The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 524 North Zhong South Lu
"What on earth does Wang Ji want to do?!"

Shi Ji stood on the city wall of Lexiang, squinting his eyes and looking into the distance.

The direction he was looking was exactly the direction of Jiangling City.

After losing Jiangbei, Shi Ji created the Jingnan defense line as quickly as possible. His main forces were concentrated in Jingmen, Mandao, Lexiang, Gong'an, Baqiu and other places, mainly facing the Cao Wei army across the river from the west.

Ding Feng was in charge of the defense line from Baqiu to Yuzhang, mainly to encircle Xiakou to prevent the enemy from attacking Xunyang and Chaisang and then attacking Jianye.

These two lines of defense are extremely important. If Shi Ji's line of defense is torn open, then none of the counties in southern Jing behind him will be able to escape, and almost all of them will be swallowed up. If Ding Feng has a problem, it will be even more terrible. The enemy army can march all the way along the river to Jianye.
Wu Yan, who proposed the idea of putting iron chains across the river at this moment, was still a minor official, while Cao Wei's southern army had its own warships and navy, especially the army in Jingzhou. Even if the enemy did not use warships to attack Jianye, as long as they were allowed to cross the river, the country would be destroyed.

Shi Ji was a little confused about what Wang Ji wanted to do.

During these days, Cao's army on the other side of the river was very active. They were coming in and out, and at night they could see the other side's bonfires, lighting up the riverside like daylight.

This is really weird. It seems that they are on guard against sudden attacks from themselves and have increased their vigilance.

Many generals believed that Wang Ji had summoned a large army to Yong'an, leaving the city empty, so they were worried that they would invade. They gathered their warships near Jiangling City and sent soldiers to guard against their attacks.

Many people saw it this way, but Shi Ji felt that something was wrong.

Jiangling is the focus of the entire Jiangbei defense line, and they are only a small force in the campaign against Shu.

Wang Ji was sure to be able to tell which was more important, Yong'an or Jiangling.

Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for him to take all the soldiers in the city out to attack Yong'an, leaving himself with Jiangling with insufficient defense.

He was very familiar with Wang Ji. This man was not someone who liked to take risks. He always fought in a conventional way and focused on stability, which was the complete opposite of Deng Ai.

Then how could he leave with such a large army?
How could I possibly let myself see it?

Is he trying to trick me into sending troops?
This doesn't make sense. Shi Ji is sure that Wang Ji understands him, and he is just as cautious in his actions. How could he fall into his trap?
Shi Ji thought about it and suddenly had an idea.

Is this guy trying to attract his attention on purpose?
He knew that he was a cautious person. If anything unusual happened in Jiang Ling, he would definitely keep a close eye on him, and then, while he was distracted here, he would start attacking from other lines of defense?
The more Shi Ji thought about it, the more he felt that this possibility was extremely high.

He hurried back to his mansion and began to stare at the map. This incomplete map was now a source of worry for him.

But Shi Ji looked at the map every day, telling himself every day that he must take back the lost territory!
Shi Ji frowned and looked at the map in front of him seriously.

Wang Ji and Wen Qin's armies are now in Yong'an. According to the latest news, they are still under siege. If Wang Ji wants to launch a sudden attack, it will definitely not be on Ding Feng's side, but within his own defense line.

Shi Ji took a quick glance and quickly locked onto a place.

Jianping County.
The troops returning from Yong'an could reach here in a few days. Although the troops here were numerous, they were concentrated around Xinling and Wushan. There wasn't much defensive power to the west, and the nearest concentration of troops was still Jingmen.
Shi Ji was horrified. He quickly stood up and summoned his lieutenants. "Quickly send someone to inform Jingmen, Yidao, and other places to prepare troops and horses to support Jianping. Inform the Jianping prefect that the enemy may cross the river and attack!"

“Weiwei!!”

The defense line that Shi Ji was responsible for was very long, but the military force at his disposal was very limited. He could only rely on the strength of his warships to keep the enemy on the other side. If the enemy successfully crossed the river and fought on land, Shi Ji believed that he would be at a disadvantage.

It seems that Jianye needs to send more soldiers, otherwise, every one of these defensive positions will be so difficult to defend.
At this moment, a fierce debate was still going on in Jianye of the Wu State.

Even Sun Xiu was puzzled by this.

He originally thought that after being harassed by those two beasts and losing Jiangbei, the State of Wu should be able to remain peaceful for a while, but he never expected that the conflicts among the ministers seemed to become even more acute.

Defections still occur from time to time, but the court is basically unable to reach a unified opinion.

The ministers were in chaos, and even the big families were no longer so harmonious.

When it came to the issue of going to war, the big families stood firmly with Zhang Bu and his men.

If you want to fight a war, you must use private soldiers.

These big families are unwilling to use their private troops to help the Shu Kingdom.

This was a situation that Sun Xiu did not want to see.

He sat in the hall, looking at the many memorials in front of him. At this moment, he suddenly noticed a memorial from a foreign general.

Sun Xiu narrowed his eyes and looked at it carefully.

This is a memorial about the war on the front line, but the person who submitted it is not a general on the front line.

This person told Sun Xiu that the current situation had become extremely dangerous. After losing Jiangbei, the Jingnan area had become useless to the Wu State, or even dispensable.

He believed that after destroying Shu, Wei would definitely devote all its efforts to building ships, and then march directly towards Jianye from Xiakou and other places. It might ignore the armies of Shi Ji and others and attack Huanglong directly. As long as Jianye was captured, all places in southern Jing would surrender.

In his memorial, he said that the center of defense should be placed in Chaisang, and it might be necessary to voluntarily give up the advantages of Jingnan and focus the main energy on several dangerous checkpoints and important ferry crossings. Otherwise, the defense line would be too long and the troops would be insufficient, which might lead to disastrous consequences.

This was truly the most unique memorial Sun Xiu had ever seen. The ministers of the day were either submitting memorials to send troops to aid Shu or to defend Jingnan with all their might. This was the first to suggest abandoning some territory.

Sun Xiu found it outrageous.

He looked at the person who wrote the letter.

Lu Kang.

Sun Xiu thought about it and remembered who this was. This was Lu Xun's son, Zhuge Ke's nephew-in-law!
Originally, because of Zhuge Ke, he was semi-hidden and not given much use.

Sun Xiu suddenly became extremely curious about this person.

He actually submitted such a treasonous memorial. Did he really want to persuade me to give up or was he mocking me?

Sun Xiu immediately looked at the eunuch beside him.

"Go and call General Fenwei Lu Kang over here. I have something to ask him!"

Sun Xiu frowned and looked furious. The eunuch was shocked and left in a hurry.

Sun Xiu didn't have to wait long, as Lu Kang had been in Jianye the whole time.

When Lu Kang was brought in, Sun Xiu was still looking at his unique memorial.

"Humph!"

Sun Xiu slammed the memorial in his hand onto the table, then stared at the guy in front of him.

"Northern Jiang has been lost, and southern Jing is in imminent danger. How dare you write to me and ask me to voluntarily give up my kingdom?! What are your intentions?!"

Standing in front of him was a handsome and heroic young man.

He was kneeling in front of Sun Xiu at this moment, but his eyes were bright and there was no fear at all.

"Your Majesty, if you had sent troops when General Shi first sent for help, even if you couldn't achieve any success, you would have been able to keep the enemy out of the river and prevent them from invading Jingnan."

"If Your Majesty had ordered a powerful general to lead troops to Jingnan last month, even if he couldn't stop the enemy from crossing the river, he could have saved Wu's main foreign forces."

"But now, there is no other way except to garrison Chaisang, reinforce important checkpoints, and defend with all our strength."

Lu Kang said seriously.

Sun Xiu was stunned for a moment, "You mean, Jingnan is going to fall?"

Lu Kang analyzed, "Wei is now attacking Shu with an absolute advantage. Shu is short on manpower, food, eunuchs are corrupt, and their generals are distrusted. They are no match for Wei."

"The Yongliang Army and the Central Army are enough to destroy Shu. Why did Cao Wei send out the Jingxiang Army and the Yuyang Army?"

"As General Shi Ji said, they are here looking for opportunities."

"Once Shu falls, they will attack immediately. General Shi is cautious and skilled in warfare, but if the enemy crosses the river from the west of Jianping, our warships won't be able to reach them in time to support them. Once the enemy crosses the river, Jianping has no strong defenses and will fall very quickly. Once Jianping falls, Lexiang and other places will face pressure from both sides."

"No matter how skilled a general is in battle, he cannot stop the enemy from two fronts."

After hearing Lu Kang's words, Sun Xiu was stunned for a moment. He asked, "Then Jingnan can't be defended?"

"Even now, the same old rules apply: evacuate the civilian population, abandon the flat areas, concentrate our forces, and primarily garrison a few strategic checkpoints. Furthermore, we must establish defensive measures along the coast to prevent the enemy from easily approaching. Our current strategy is to defend to the death."

Sun Xiu suddenly fell silent.

He picked up the report in his hand again and asked, "Has the situation become so bad?"

Lu Kang didn't say anything this time.

Sun Xiu asked, "Then there is no way to fight back?"

Lu Kang pursed his lips and said, "Unless there's some unrest within Wei, Your Majesty, don't worry. Our warships are stronger than the enemy's, and the coast is also well-suited for attack. If we can concentrate our superior forces, the enemy won't dare invade in the short term."

"Also, my two lords in the temple, please forgive me for speaking frankly, but now is not the time to open up new land and increase grain production."

"The military is in turmoil, and the people are uneasy. If we forcibly follow the policies that even Wei is changing, it will not only fail to strengthen the country, but will cause even greater unrest."

Sun Xiu was silent for a long time before he said, "You can go back first. I have my own considerations."

Lu Kang did not feel depressed. He stood up and bowed again, then left in a very casual manner.

(End of this chapter)