Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

In Yuliangzhou, inside the tent of King Wu.

Shi Yi, Hu Zong, Quan Cong, Bu Zhi, and Pan Jun were all silent. In the almost stagnant atmosphere, the five of them almost all stared at Sun Quan who was sitting in the main seat, waiting for the King of Wu to make the final judgment.

Apart from Sun Quan himself, there was no one else who could make decisions for him on such important matters. It was no longer the time when Zhou Gongjin, Lu Zijing, Lu Ziming, Lu Boyan and others were around.

War is a matter of great importance to a state and a matter of life and death.

The land of Jiangdong is the foundation for the Sun family to establish their military power. Although Sun Quan and the entire Eastern Wu have focused their attention and strength on Jingzhou in the past decade or so, everyone understands that the fundamental land of Jiangdong must not be lost.

But if we withdraw now, all our efforts since September will be wasted.

For Sun Quan at this moment, the decision on this matter is a game with little chance of winning and a higher probability of neither winning nor losing.

However, Sun Quan had made this kind of decision more than once during the 30 years that he was in charge of Jiangdong.

Sun Quan held his breath slightly, raised his eyes and looked around, and looked at Shi Yi, Hu Zong, Quan Cong, Bu Zhi and Pan Jun respectively, with some temptation and questioning in his eyes.

After a long pause, Sun Quan finally spoke: "I have led 70,000 troops to fight Wei in Xiangfan for only a month and a half. How can I give up halfway?"

"I think what Zi Yu, Wei Ze and Zi Huang said is very true. Lu Gong is old and prudent, Luo Gongxu is in a stable situation. With the two of them in Yangzhou, how can I worry about the gains and losses of Ruxu in Xiangyang?"

Shi Yi nodded slightly and said calmly, "Your Majesty, the whole country of Wu now has 180,000 soldiers. In addition to the 70,000 troops in Xiangyang, there are 10,000 soldiers in Zhu Yifeng's place in Jiangling, and 30,000 soldiers in Ruxu, Jianye and other places. There are 70,000 soldiers in each of the three states of Yangzhou, Jingzhou and Jiaozhou."

"Even if Your Majesty does not send troops from Xiangyang to aid Ruxu, the troops under Lu Gong's command in Yangzhou are more than enough to handle it. If that is still not enough, we can just draw troops from the counties near Danyang!"

The so-called Lü Gong refers to Lü Dai, who succeeded Lü Fan as governor of Yangzhou. Lü Dai was transferred from the post of governor of Jiaozhou to deal with emergencies. Although the two have the same surname, they are not from the same clan.

Lü Fan was from Runan, Yuzhou, and served Sun Ce at first. Lü Dai was from Guangling, Xuzhou, and was a scholar from Xuzhou who was summoned to serve under Sun Quan after he succeeded to the throne.

After thirty years of hard work, Lu Dai is now in his seventies.

Frankly speaking, Lü Dai was steady, but battlefield decision-making and military strategy were not his strong points. Sun Quan was naturally uneasy about Lü Dai dealing with the Wei army led by Chen Qun.

Sun Quan said: "Even so, Lu Gong is very old. If there is no general to command the battle, I still feel uneasy."

"Zi Huang." Sun Quan turned his head to look at Quan Cong. "This is the time to use military force. Zi Huang, are you willing to go to Ruxu for me, take charge of the army, and guard Ruxu for me, just like Zhu Xiumu did in the past?"

Quan Cong suddenly stood up from his seat and strode to the center of the tent, startling everyone. He bowed and said:

"Although Your Majesty did not blame me for the defeat at Fancheng the day before yesterday, I am ashamed every day and vowed to seek redress for my wrongs. Now Your Majesty has entrusted Ruxu to me, and I will follow the example of Zhu Xiumu and stay in Ruxu like a mountain, unmoved, and make sure that the Wei soldiers will never return!"

Sun Quan let out a long sigh: "In terms of the decisive battle between the two battles and commanding the troops to respond to changes, I am far inferior to Zihuang. How many troops will Zihuang need for this trip? How will we fight after we reach Ruxu?"

Quan Cong said: "If you think about it, the situation here in Ruxu is no different from that of the Supreme in Xiangyang."

"Your Majesty is in Xiangyang to use Yukouwu and Yuliangzhou to hold off the Wei army and seize Xiangyang when the opportunity arises. I am in Ruxu to use the advantage of the navy on the river to connect Ruxuwu and Ruxuzhongzhou to prevent the Wei army from advancing."

Sun Quan nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to give more instructions, Shi Yi beside him asked:
"General Quan, this trip to Ruxu is different from Fancheng. You must be cautious and not act rashly..."

"I know!" Quan Cong's eyes widened and he answered loudly, his voice also increased several levels, which startled Jiang Yi:
"Ruxu and Fancheng are different. The loss of Fancheng was my fault. Although Your Majesty has not punished me, if I cannot atone for my sins, I will apologize when I return to Wuchang in the future."

"Ruxu must defend, not attack. If I take the initiative to fight, the Shangshu will not have to argue. I will cut off my head to repay the Supreme!"

Shi Yi was slightly surprised to see Quan Cong so excited, but after coming to his senses, he calmly responded: "General Quan is a great general, I have said too much."

Bu Zhi finally spoke up at this time: "Your Majesty, why not let Zihuang's troops go with him. Although we lost two thousand in the previous battle, the remaining eight thousand are more than enough to cope with the situation."

Quan Cong's army originally had 10,000 men, but he had left 2,000 men at Yukouwu for defense, so he led only 8,000 men to help Bu Zhi and Pan Jun outside Fancheng, losing about 2,000 men. Afterwards, the defense of Yukou was taken over by Sun Huan, and Quan Cong's 8,000 men were stationed in Yuliangzhou.

"Very good." Sun Quan nodded, then stood up, walked to Quan Cong, shook Quan Cong's hand firmly, patted it a few times, and said earnestly:
"Zihuang, go now! In addition to your own troops, I will ask Lu Gong to draw 10,000 soldiers from various counties in Yangzhou and place them across the river in Wuhu to support us in case of emergency. In this way, the number of troops there will gradually increase to 50,000." "I will appoint you as the Left Grand Commander, and give you the authority to lead these 40,000 to 50,000 troops for me. As for Yangzhou Mu Lu Gong, don't worry. I will let him take charge of logistics and lead the troops in the front. Listen to Zihuang's words!"

"Also, order each county in Jingzhou to send 5,000 soldiers to Jiangling, and then have Zhu Yifeng lead 5,000 troops north from Jiangling!"

Zhu Ran and Zhu Yifeng once led 5,000 soldiers to garrison in Jiangling City. Facing attacks from Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He and other generals, they stayed there for half a year until the Wei army retreated north.

If we were to ask which general was inferior to Quan Cong, only Zhu Ran was slightly better. If we were to ask the next generals, it would be Sun Huan, Bu Zhi, Sun Shao and others.

Quan Cong bowed his head heavily in response, then took two steps back, knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily, tears streaming from his eyes:
"The country is in danger. Unless Quan Cong dies in Ruxu, we will not let the Wei army advance even a single inch!"

The four people in the tent were Yi, Hu Zong, Pan Jun and Bu Zhi. At this moment, they were all looking at the king and his minister in the tent with solemn expressions.

Although within an army, each minister and general had different thoughts, most of them were insincere and often engaged in intrigue, but when faced with this crisis, Quan Cong shed tears, and who would not feel moved?
Since Lu Xun returned to Wei three and a half years ago, the most talented generals in Wu State are Quan Cong and Quan Zihuang in front of everyone.

As for the battle north of Fancheng the day before, after the troops returned, Pan Jun and Bu Zhi did not say anything strange about Quan Cong, but tried their best to defend Quan Cong to Sun Quan. They knew that commanding more than 10,000 troops without causing chaos in the battle with the Wei army was their limit.

In this Ruxu battle, there are 40,000 to 50,000 people, and only Quan Cong can take on this responsibility.

"Don't act like a child. Get up quickly." Sun Quan used both arms to help Quan Cong up and patted his arm vigorously: "I will watch Zihuang succeed in Xiangyang!"

As the military orders were issued from the King of Wu's tent, the Wu military camps on Yuliangzhou Island and on both sides of the Han River also began to move.

The ships gradually gathered, and the soldiers prepared their weapons and equipment in accordance with military orders, and began to board the ships at the southernmost pier of Yuliangzhou, close to the downstream.

Ten tower ships and ten warships were all the reinforcements that Sun Quan sent from Yuliangzhou to Ruxu. Along with this fleet, there were two ships that transported the wounded to Wuchang.

The Han River and the Yangtze River are like the endless highways stretching from east to west in this era.

Wu relied on the advantages of water transportation. Sailing upstream was faster than on land, and sailing downstream was even faster. It only took three or four days to travel 2,400 miles downstream.

In comparison, if the State of Wei transferred troops from the vicinity of Xiangfan in Jingzhou to Hefei in Yangzhou, the time it would take would not be just twice or three times as long.

In the afternoon of the tenth day of October, Quan Cong was ordered to lead his troops towards Ruxu. His new position as the Left Grand Commander also brought him to the pinnacle of his life.

Sun Quan and his generals made decisions very quickly. When the military report arrived in the early morning, they sent reinforcements and messengers to Yangzhou Governor Lu Dai in the afternoon.

But Ruxu, far down the Yangtze River, was not as calm as Sun Quan at Yuliangzhou. The soldiers were safe in defending the city, but the generals seemed at a loss.

Ruxu was the most important pass of the Wu State, and the generals guarding it were all heroes of the time.

In the 17th year of Jian'an, Lü Meng sent tens of thousands of troops to build Ruxu Fort at the mouth of the Ruxu River. After that, Jiang Qin, Lü Meng, Zhou Tai, and Zhu Huan successively served as the governors of Ruxu, and Luo Tong was also considered Zhu Huan's successor.

Before this, when Wei and Wu fought in Wancheng, Luo Tong was already in office.

However, Luo Tong had not been in good health since the end of summer. On the last day of September, he learned that the Wei army was coming. He was so worried that he had a headache on the second day of October and was bedridden and unable to attend to his duties.

After Luo Tong fell ill, Lieutenant General Zhu Cai temporarily led his army. Zhu Cai was thirty-five years old and was the son of Zhu Zhi, a veteran of the Eastern Wu.

After Zhu Cai maintained the defense for two days, General Fenwei Zhang Cheng and Zhang Zhongsi, who hurriedly came by boat from Jianye, took over the defense of Ruxu.

Zhang Cheng was the eldest son of Zhang Zhao, an old minister of Eastern Wu, and married the daughter of Zhuge Jin. Few people in Jiangdong could match his noble status. He was responsible for commanding the 10,000 most elite soldiers of the Wu army in Yangzhou.

After receiving Luo Tong's letter of request for assistance in Jianye, Lü Dai ordered Zhang Cheng to lead 10,000 troops to advance and arrive on October 4. Half of the troops were stationed in Ruxu Zhongzhou, not far from Ruxukou, and the rest were stationed in Ruxuwu.

The so-called Ruxu Middle Island is a sandbar similar to a delta where the Ruxu River flows into the Yangtze River, but is surrounded by the river and the Ruxu River on both sides. The land is wide, and when Zhu Huan was stationed in Ruxu in the past, he settled all his troops and their families on Ruxu Middle Island.

In addition to the 5,000 rear troops left in Jianye, Lü Dai led the remaining 10,000 soldiers to follow and arrived at the Wuhu military camp on the south bank of Ruxu on October 7th. (End of this chapter)