Shu Han Confucian General of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 152 Zhang Yide's Brigade Arrives in Jiangdong, Cao Mengde Commands Yecheng

Chen Deng is dead.

On the second day after Zhao Feng arrived in Shouchun, the former number one wise man in Xuzhou passed away after being bedridden for many years.Eating raw fish and turtles for many years had caused unnegligible damage to his body. Coupled with the blow caused by his cousin's betrayal four years ago, Chen Deng's health has not been much better.With the deaths of Chen Deng and Zhao Yu, Mi Fang's betrayal, and Cao Bao who had been purged by Liu Bei long ago, there are not many four old Xuzhou families left.However, the Xuzhou faction did not lose too much because of this. The new Xuzhou faction represented by Lu Su and Sun Qian, as well as Zhang Zhao, who was born in Huaisi in the original Jiangdong Group, and Bu Ying and others also have a sense of identity with them, so now the two The faction is still in the check and balance stage, while the Jingzhou faction is gradually rising.

Although Liu Bei was eager to attack Jiangdong, he still had to wait for the troops to gather.Zang Ba, who was in Shangyong, was fully prepared to completely repel Zhang Lu's Hanzhong army after Ji Ling and Sun Fu successively came to help him.Not only that, Zang Ba also ordered Shen Dan to lead 500 people to take a small road to kill the Hanzhong army on the only way to return to the army, and cut down trees to block the road.As a result, when the Hanzhong army fled, the road was blocked and had to abandon their horses and walk.In the end, Zang Ba harvested thousands of Xiliang horses and made a fortune.But he was not happy for long, most of these horses were requisitioned by Guan Yu for picking peaches, and some were distributed by Sun Fu and others. In the end, Zang Ba returned to Nantong with only a thousand horses, for fear of being blackmailed again. He immediately asked Liu Bei to set up a cavalry team.Liu Bei also made a favor, and promoted Zang Ba from Yamen General to General Dangkou, and formed a cavalry team modeled on the old Bingzhou cavalry, led by Zang Ba himself.Only a few thousand good horses are exchanged for such a promotion, Zang Ba's deal is not worth it.

As for Sun Fu, after learning that Sun Quan had invaded again, he immediately bound himself to Shouchun to plead guilty.Liu Bei looked at the kneeling Sun Fu in front of him, and finally let out a long sigh and untied him from the ropes that bound him. "One person does things and one person is responsible. Sun Quan is rebellious, so what has he to do with Guoyi." Liu Bei sighed, and Sun Fu was very grateful.

In mid-September, Liu Bei finally gathered all kinds of people.During this period, although Sun Quan did not take the initiative to attack the Lujiang counties, the offensive of public opinion never stopped.Sun Quan personally wrote an article to announce to the counties in Jiangdong, claiming that as long as the old Jiangdong ministers come back to vote now, they will forget the past.However, because Liu Bei adopted the method of being an official in a different place, not many Jiangdong old officials are still in Jiangdong.The highest position among the old ministers is Lujiang prefect Bulu, and as Liu Bei's brother-in-law, he will naturally not surrender.The rest of the people weighed the weight of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and most of them wisely chose to continue to rely on Liu Bei.At the end of the quarrel, the two best friends of the Sun family, Captain Pan Zhang and Poyang prefect Tai Shici, responded, and the rest were basically the children of the rest of the Sun family, such as Sun Jiao and Sun Kuang. The highest position of these people was no more than a county magistrate , with limited influence.

Finally, on September 24th, all the horses had assembled.Liu Bei chose this auspicious day to personally swear an oath for the conquest army in Shouchun.Originally, he wanted to lead the army in person, but Lu Su, Chen Qun and others believed that the war in northern Xinjiang was not peaceful at the moment, and it was not appropriate to move lightly. It was better for Liu Bei to sit in Shouchun.The battle will be left to Zhao Feng and Zhang Fei.Hearing this, Liu Bei knew that there was nothing wrong with it, and at present, Zhang Fei, the general of Zhendong, was the main general, and Zhao Feng, the general of rebellion, was the deputy general. .

"The third brother's marching must not be too greedy, and discuss everything with Bo Tao Shiyuan, you know?" Liu Bei was most worried about his brother, so it was best to warn him. "I know, big brother!" Zhang Feiweng agreed in a low voice, and the [-] army marched towards Jiangdong under Liu Bei's uneasy eyes.

"Boy Zhao, you brought an army of 8 to fight Jiangdong last time. Why is it only [-] this time? It's not enough!" Zhang Fei walked among the marching army and grinned at Zhao Feng authentically.

"One moment and another. At that time, Sun Quan had more than [-] elite troops, and Zhou Yu was the governor. Naturally, we should not take it lightly. But now, Sun Quan has just won Jiangdong, and his people are not stable, and the army and horses under his command may not be very powerful He's tough. He just took advantage of the chaos to occupy a few counties, and then mobilized an army of [-] to conquer him, so I think highly of him." Zhao Feng laughed.

"You're right." Zhang Fei smacked his lips.The army left Shouchun and crossed the river by boat from Ruxukou to Caishiji. Danyang prefect Lu Jun and his son Lu Xun had been waiting for a long time.

"Three Generals, General Zhao, it's great that you are here!" Lu Jun was also a little relieved after seeing the army crossing the river.Lu Jun's life was not easy these days. There were less than [-] defenders in Danyang. It would be difficult to deal with if Sun Quan sent troops to attack. Fortunately, such a terrible thing did not happen.

"Prefect Lu, what's the situation now?" Zhao Feng asked Lu Jun for the latest information.

"After the rebels of the Sun family occupied Wu County, Sun Quan himself took charge of Wu County, and ordered his younger brother Sun Yi to lead the Jiaozhou Navy to guard Poyang, and Sun Kuang to guard Luling, forming a rivalry. Now Sun Ni has recruited [-] to [-] troops. , the strength is definitely not weak." Lu Jun replied.

"[-] to [-] troops?" Zhao Feng asked in surprise.Even if Sun Quan still had tens of thousands of people staying behind in Jiaozhou, after occupying the four counties, and adding up the number of recruits and surrenders, there would be so many people, which Zhao Feng could not have imagined for a while.What he didn't know was that in order to gather the number of people, Sun Quan, in addition to recruiting soldiers and bravery, even released the prisoners in the cells of the cities he occupied, tempted them to pardon their crimes, and gave them weapons to let them guard the cities together.In addition, when occupying Yizhou, more than [-] local young and strong indigenous people were forced to join the army, and this is how they gathered so many people.

"Sun Quan still has some tricks." Zhang Fei also nodded when he heard the words.It is not easy for Sun Quan to pull up such a team in such a short period of time.Zhao Feng suddenly remembered that when Liu Bei killed Che Zhou and occupied Xuzhou for the second time in history, even though he had recruited 9 or [-] people in a short period of time, this improvised army was still defeated when Cao Cao's army went on a conquest.However, Sun Quan has managed Jiaozhou for many years, and there should still be tens of thousands of troops under his command that can fight.

"Shi Yuan, do you think we should attack first?" Zhao Feng turned his head and asked Pang Tong.The latter bowed his head and thought for a while, and finally said: "Let's attack Wu County first."

"The city wall of Wu County is very dangerous, it cannot be captured in a hurry." Lu Jun immediately objected when he heard this.

"It is precisely because Wu County is difficult to capture in a hurry, so as long as Wu County can be captured quickly, it will be a great blow to the morale of the Sun's rebels." Pang Tong laughed.Turning his head to look at Zhao Feng, Pang Tong said again: "I heard that General Zhao has recently developed a siege weapon called an incendiary bomb. You have been looking forward to this for a long time!"

"Shi Yuan is really far-sighted!" Zhao Feng shook his head and laughed.The incendiary bomb was made by myself and Lu Hao a long time ago, but I have been busy in Jingnan for more than a year, but I have never cared about the large-scale production and use of this incendiary bomb.It wasn't until it was time to fight Jiangdong that Lu Hao was ordered to lead his people to rush to make more than a thousand pills to carry with the army day and night within a month.In fact, it is also very simple, just like in the movie "Red Cliff", fill the jar with grease, then plug the mouth of the jar, use the trebuchet to throw it to the predetermined position, the grease overflows after the crock jar is broken, and then ignite it with a rocket .

Not to mention that Zhang Fei and others in Danyang City worked together to win over Sun Quan, at this time, Yuan Tan was helpless in the camp of more than [-] troops under the city of Yecheng, Hebei.It has been more than a month since he led his army back to Yecheng, but Cao Cao's army who occupied Yecheng for more than a month has not fought him.Once he sent his army to attack the city, the defenders would take him and the family members of all the generals in Yecheng to the top of the city, so that everyone would be wary.Not only that, Cao Jun also used the family members in the city as bait to coerce the generals to betray Yuan Tan.Under such a psychological battle, people secretly defected almost every day, and Yuan Tan was also devastated.

"Mr. Gong and, can we retreat to the Bohai Sea first, and then make plans?" Yuan Tan regretted not listening to Ju Shou's words, and ended up being so helpless.He didn't want Jushou to hear the words, but shook his head with a wry smile and said: "At present, most of the generals' family members are in Yecheng, and Cao Cao's reputation for murder is well known in the world. If he leaves here, it will be difficult for the generals to feel uneasy."

"This Cao Cao bastard is so shameless." Zhang Jaw on the side said angrily.

"Cao Cao has always been unscrupulous in his actions. Didn't he say that he would rather let the world down than me." Guo Tu shook his head and said, his tone full of helplessness.This is not a conspiracy at all, but a naked conspiracy.Even if Guo Tu and Ju Shou are clever, there is no way.

"Report to the lord, the three sons surrendered at the top of the city of Yecheng, and the two generals Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang led their troops to surrender to Cao Cao!" At this moment, the sentinel brought another bad news.Yuan Tan didn't have the strength to get angry anymore, so he could only smile wryly.

That night, in the General's Mansion in Yecheng, Yuan Shanglong, who had just been proclaimed as a General by the court, hosted a banquet in honor of Cao Cao, who had "quelled the chaos" for him, and welcomed the arrival of Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang by the way.For a while, Yuan Shang seemed to be the master of this room, a great general in the dynasty, and entertained everyone graciously.He didn't see that Cao Cao looked at him with such a trace of disdain deep in his eyes.

"Prime Minister, I don't know when we can defeat Yuan Tan's army outside the city?" Yuan Shang asked Cao Cao with a happy face after drinking a glass of wine.

"Soon, the soldiers and horses from Bingzhou can go south via Sizhou to help. Under the attack from the two sides, Yuan Tan will definitely be defeated!" Cao Cao laughed.Yuan Shang couldn't stop laughing wildly when he heard the words, calling people to drink again and again without mentioning it.All the counselors and generals were having a good time, but there was a trace of melancholy on the brows of the judge and matchmaker.

"Third Young Master, I'm afraid that Cao Cao sent troops this time not for the sake of Third Young Master's quelling chaos, but because he wants to seize the opportunity to occupy Hebei!" After the banquet was over, the judge secretly said to Yuan Shang looking for an opportunity.

"I don't know Cao Cao's ambitions. Don't worry, sir. After Yuan Tan is defeated, I will hold a grand banquet. Cao Cao can be eliminated easily, and then I will return to the south to rule the Central Plains! When the time comes, who can stand up to me when it comes to heroes in the world? Resist?" Yuan Shang said proudly, completely ignoring the judge in front of him, looking at him as if he was looking at an idiot.

(End of this chapter)