The revival of Shu Han

Chapter 230 Entering Soochow

On March 267, [-] AD, Jian Jian arrived at Jianye, the capital of Soochow.

Then, Sun Hao waited for him for more than ten years before he was interviewed.

He had thought of this treatment before he came.So I don't bother to compare.Instead, he took advantage of these ten days to sing and have banquets with the aristocratic families of Soochow.Finally, the public opinion in the Soochow officialdom began to have opinions on Sun Hao, and Sun Hao met Jian Jian under Zhong Hui's persuasion.

"Huh! The messenger is here this time, is he here to apologize to me, Da Wu, or is he begging for mercy?"

"Well, sorry to tell Your Majesty, neither."

"Isn't your chief Sima very majestic? At the beginning when our army fought life and death in Xiling, he sneaked out to pick peaches at the end. Hmph, he took advantage of various chances and coincidences to defeat my navy army once in a while. Shouldn’t he be very proud? Why? He’s going to the Northern Expedition, but does he know that he needs the cooperation of my Great Wu to succeed?”

"Tsk tsk tsk, Your Majesty. The foreign minister is here this time to offer His Majesty a chance to make contributions."

"Hmph! The emissary's tone is so loud. If I have made contributions, I will take it as long as I need it. Why do you need to give it?!"

"Hehe, Your Majesty. The foreign minister will break up the words and tell you. That's right, I am indeed planning to launch the Northern Expedition in the spring of next year. Launching an attack on the Jin State will indeed provide great assistance to the Great Han. It will greatly increase the possibility of the success of the Northern Expedition of the Great Han. Therefore, from this point of view, the Great Han needs the cooperation and help of your country."

"But from your country's point of view. Isn't this Northern Expedition of the Great Han an opportunity for your country to regain its glory? With the prestige of my family's great Sima, this Northern Expedition will definitely be highly valued by Jin. About [-]% of Jin's military power will be poured into the Guanlong area. Your country is also launching the Northern Expedition at this time. Does it have more opportunities? Among other things, the so-called defense of the Yangtze River must guard the Huaihe River. Relying on the Yangtze River alone, Jianye is not safe enough. If Hefei City in Huaibei can be taken down, then Dawu will be as stable as Mount Tai!"

"Hmph! Your envoy is really eloquent and well-deserved of his reputation. But why did I fight Jin? As long as your country launches the Northern Expedition, I can write a letter to Emperor Jin. Ask him to hand over the city of Hefei to my Great Wu. Then I will Wu Jin raises an army of 20 troops, all the way to attack Badong in your country, all the way to help Jin to put down the remnants of Cao Wei in Shangyong. Do you think the Emperor Jin will agree to such a condition?"

"Oh, it turns out that His Majesty's previous reputation was all false. The foreign ministers heard that His Majesty is the person who most resembles King Huan of Changsha in the Wu Kingdom for decades. But when did Sun Bofu need to sell the covenant to seek benefits from the enemy? ?”

"Jian Wushuang, how courageous! Believe it or not, I cooked you today?!"

"Hahahaha, if a man lives with five tripods, he will die with five tripods. Your majesty is going to cook me, and the foreign ministers are honored. It's just that if your majesty cooked the foreign ministers today, tomorrow my big Sima brother will be with Jin Huang immediately." Contact, when the time comes, Han and Jin will attack Wu together!"

"Hmph! Come here, don't tell me I'm still afraid of you?!"

Alas, the young emperor's impatience flared up again.Zhong Hui listened to Sun Hao and Jian Jian's exchange, and felt helpless: You are the emperor, why are you so fussy with a courtier of the other party?

"Your Majesty, the envoy has worked hard from afar. Why don't we talk about this today?"

"Exactly, Your Majesty. Responding to the Northern Expedition is a major event, so..."

"Well, the prime minister and the minister's order make sense, so let's leave it at that today."

It was late at night, and the lights in Sun Hao's study were brightly lit.

Five people including Sun Hao, Lu Kai, Wan Yu, Zhong Hui, and Ding Feng gathered together to discuss Shu Han's proposal.

"Shi Ji, in your opinion, will the Northern Expedition to Western Shu be successful?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not predict whether it will be successful or not. But what I can be sure of is that Guan Zifeng's prestige and authority in Western Shu far exceed those of Jiang Wan and Fei Yi back then. Therefore, this Northern Expedition to Western Shu is the most important thing. The strength is enormous. The mobilized force should not be less than [-]."

"Well, one hundred thousand. Hehe, it's still a small country after all." Reluctantly pretending to be contemptuous, he expressed contempt for the Shu Han whose national strength was not as good as his own.Sun Hao said to Ding Feng solemnly: "You Da Sima, I was young and lost my reading, and I didn't read much. But I also heard that Jiang Wei of Western Shu has rarely launched nine Northern Expeditions in the past ten years. More than [-] troops, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Among Jiang Wei's nine Northern Expeditions, only one had a force of more than [-] troops."

"Hiss~~~ Although the number of soldiers in Western Shu is small, this combat power cannot be underestimated. You Da Sima, if I, Da Wu, start the Northern Expedition next year, where do you think our army's main attack will be? Well, Jian Wushuang this morning Although Zhuzi is rebellious and disrespectful, but the phrase he said, "If you guard the river, you must guard the Huai River" really won my heart."

To guard the river must guard the Huai River, of course it is a vocabulary for travelers in this era.It means that if the separatist regime in the south of the Yangtze River wants to survive, it must not rely on the Yangtze River alone: ​​the Yangtze River has a thoroughfare everywhere.A little breakthrough, the whole line collapses.Therefore, it is necessary to control the Huaihe River Basin north of the Yangtze River.This creates strategic depth.Even if the enemy breaks through the Huaihe defense line, our side has time and space to deal with it.

Speaking of it, Soochow and Jin have an extremely long border.In Jingzhou, the Yangtze River is basically the dividing line.On the Yangzhou side, Soochow devoted all its power to the establishment of Qichun County, Lujiang County, and Guangling County on the north bank of the Yangtze River.The area of ​​these three counties is not large, but Soochow spent a lot of money in it, and built a lot of castles and fortresses, in order to form a land barrier to defend the capital Jianye in Jiangbei.

Therefore, although people of this era are shocked when they hear the phrase that the river must be guarded by the Huai River for the first time.But Soochow has long recognized this.For decades since the founding of the People's Republic of China, they have been working hard to build the Huainan line of defense in Jiangbei.

But Soochow realized this, and Cao Wei (Jin State) was not stupid.From the time of Cao Cao, when the border between Wei and Wu gradually stabilized, Cao Cao ordered Sima Lang, Liu Fu and others to use Shouchun on the south bank of the Huaihe River as a base, and continue to build various strong castles to the south.Extend your power to the north bank of the Yangtze River as much as possible.

For decades, the war between Cao Wei and Soochow, at least on the line of Yangzhou, has been fought in the area south of the Huai River and north of the Yangtze River.One side wants to move the border north to the Huaihe River to facilitate the survival of its own side.One side wants to move the border south to the Yangtze River in order to lay the foundation for the elimination of the other side.

After decades of fighting, the two sides are basically tied.Although Soochow failed to reach the south bank of the Huaihe River, it still retained some territory in Jiangbei.A barrier was erected for the capital.As for Cao Wei, although he failed to reach Jiangbei, at least starting from Shouchun, he moved south bit by bit.The southernmost city of Hefei is less than two hundred kilometers away from Jianye.

Therefore, Soochow has been thinking about it for decades, and it has always wanted to take Hefei Fortress: this fortress is too great a threat to Soochow's survival!
This is also one of the fundamental reasons why Guan Yi dared to attack Soochow in Xiling: at least at this time, the Shu Han did not affect Soochow's survival at all!

"Your Majesty, this old minister has fought for Great Wu all his life. His greatest ideal is to win Hefei for Great Wu. Only after taking this place, can I sleep peacefully in Jianye at night. Therefore, I, Great Wu, must participate in this Northern Expedition of Western Shu! The veteran thought that Western Shu should be allowed to send troops first. After the central army of Jin was attracted, my great Wu would launch another 20 troops to attack Jin from Jingzhou and Yangzhou. Among them, Jingzhou only needed to deploy 15 troops For strength, a false attack is enough. Yangzhou, with an army of [-], must take Hefei City!"

"Your Majesty, minister Lu Kai has played. Since Your Majesty took the throne, the political style of our Great Wu has been completely refreshed. According to the statistics of the Prime Minister's Office at the end of last year, there were 30 more private households controlled by the state than in the seventh year of Yong'an (the year when Sun Xiu died). The treasury is also full of money and food. Therefore, I, Da Wu, should take advantage of this opportunity to make the Northern Expedition! Not to mention taking Shouchun and going to the Huaihe River. At least Hefei must be taken!"

"Well, what does Shang Shuling mean?"

"Your Majesty, I deeply agree with the opinions of the right chief Sima and the left prime minister."

"Hey, I understand what you said. But I still feel uncomfortable with Xiling's tone! This Guan Zifeng, I thought he was a great hero before. In the end, he is still the same as their big-eared thief, stealing chickens and dogs. to not fix!"

"Your Majesty, those who achieve great things don't care about trivial matters. As the Emperor of Great Wu, this grievance is nothing. Now the most urgent task is how to persuade the envoys of Western Shu to send troops first..."

It was Prime Minister Wan Yu who said this.As soon as he said this, Sun Hao's expression became even uglier.

Hey, my brother Wenbin.You still haven't figured out the situation.His Majesty is no longer the Marquis of Wu Cheng.How can you be so straightforward with him?Well, but your silly character is much easier to deal with than that Lu Jingfeng.Before Lu Jingfeng falls, I need you to stand in front of me.So, let me help you this time.

"Your Majesty, when it comes to whether the breath is smooth or not, I have a suggestion."

"Oh, Shi Ji, tell me!"

"Well, the Northern Expedition of Xishu would have been extremely difficult without our cooperation. Therefore, although I, the Great Wu, had to send troops together due to the general situation of the world, it was a great help to Xishu after all. Xishu has to show a little sincerity no matter what. For example, at the end of last year on the Yangtze River, a small trebuchet that could be mounted on a boat..."

"Huh? Huh! Shi Ji, you are really my ovary! Shan, as long as Xishu agrees to hand over this technology. My great Wu will send troops after next year's spring plowing!"

(End of this chapter)