While Liu Qi was stirring up trouble in Guanzhong, Cao Cao also led his troops to Shouchun, preparing to take over Jiangbei and put pressure on Soochow.
Two hundred thousand troops were mobilized from Qingzhou and Xuzhou, plus the navy trained by Xuanwu Lake, falsely claiming to be half a million, and marched both by land and water.
When Cao Cao first arrived in Shouchun, he mobilized all his troops. Xiahou Dun, the governor of the east route, and Cao Ren, the governor of the west route, took charge of the central army. They deployed troops and horses from the Huaihe River to the Yangtze River, connecting Hefei in the west and Guangling in the east. They formed hundreds of miles of camps to form an opposition to Ruxu. The power of defending.
Wanting to use Zhang Liao to defeat Sun Quan, Soochow feared the remaining power of Cao's army and overawed the Wu army, causing it to retreat in the face of difficulties.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Huan, the general of Ruxu, tried his best to pretend that he was defeated and did not dare to fight. When Cao Ren's vanguard arrived, he laid an ambush outside the water stronghold and killed Cao's army in defeat.
Cao Cao was furious and personally led his troops to Chaohu to confront the enemy. He transferred Cao Ren to Liyang to put full pressure on the Wu army.
Sun Yu sent troops to support him, and Zang Ba ambushed him in Xiang'an, but he returned defeated. Zhu Huan was unable to stand alone, and the Ruxu water stronghold was lost. He led the remaining troops to retreat to Niuzhu.
Cao Cao's army had a great victory in Hefei a year ago, and it was inevitable that he would win against Wu's army. Now Cao Cao has taken Ruxu again, and is advancing along the river to Jiangdong, boosting his morale.
Xun You said: "The Prime Minister has greatly promoted the power of the army, and everyone in Soochow is frightened. We can put pressure on Sun Quan again, return the Lujiang River, hunt together in Jiangxia, destroy Liu Qi together, divide the land of Jingzhou, and form an alliance forever. Sun Quan will be shocked and suspicious. , give up the alliance with Liu Qi, and the revenge of Jingzhou can be avenged."
"That's what I meant!" Cao Cao stood by the river with his hands behind his hands, facing the river wind, and ordered someone to deliver another message to Sun Quan.
When the news reached Jianye, Soochow was shocked. Sun Quan hurriedly convened a civil and military meeting and sent people to Chaisang to mobilize Zhou Yu to lead the troops to resist Cao's army.
Zhang Zhao pointed at Lu Su and said angrily: "I have said before that Wu Hou and Liu Biao's father and son have a grudge against killing their father, how can they make an alliance? When Lian Cao destroys Liu and takes Jingzhou, it is the best idea. Cao Cao hates Liu Qi deeply. , you persuade the Marquis of Wu to marry him, which will anger Cao Cao. Five hundred thousand troops are approaching the river, where is Liu Qi and where is the support from Jingzhou?"
Yan Zhen sneered and said: "I heard that Liu Qi was planning to plot Guanzhong, so I went to Wuguan personally. I was really unreasonable, Guanzhong is separated from Jingzhou by mountains and rivers, and I encountered setbacks on my way there. Not only will my progress fail, I'm afraid Jingzhou will be shaken, and I won't be able to protect myself."
"You little boy, how can you understand the general situation?" Zhang Zhao was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, "I won a battle by luck by relying on the favorable geographical location of Nanyang, so I thought that I was invincible. I didn't know how thick the sky was, and I was bound to be destroyed. My lord inherited the inheritance from my father and brother, and I will be safe." Jiangdong, you must not get burned by this madman and cause great trouble for Jiangdong."
Cheng Pu clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, my lord, I don't need Liu Qi's support. I am willing to lead the troops and cross the river to the north. I will definitely kill the Cao thieves."
Zhang Zhao stroked his beard and sneered: "Mr. Cheng made such arrogant remarks. Did he forget the battle at Hefei years ago? Zhang Liao can't win, let alone Cao Cao himself? It's impossible to overestimate your own capabilities."
Cheng Pu said angrily: "Since we started our business with General Sun, we have fought hundreds of battles. Why are we afraid of Cao Cao's thieves? You surrendered without a fight, but you still do it openly in the court. How can you think of shame?"
Zhang Zhao was furious: "Cheng Pu, you... you are a warrior, how do you know the general trend of the world? Why do you always bring shame on yourself?"
Cheng Pu coldly sneered: "You have lost your power and humiliated the country, you have rebellious ministers and traitors, and all the major events in the world are caused by you rotten scholars." Zhang Zhao's prestige in Jiangdong is on par with Cheng Pu's, and he was insulted by him in person, and his temper became violent. Xiu Xiu shouted: "Lord, I want to challenge him to a fight to the death."
Zhang Hong and others hurriedly stopped him and pulled Zhang Zhao behind. Cheng Pu stood there with his arms folded. In the past, he respected his age, but today he did not give in.
Zhang Hong clasped his fists and said: "My lord, for the present plan, it is better to follow Cao Cao's wishes and return the Lujiang River. Cao's army can attack Jiangxia from the Lujiang River, and we will take Xiakou from the waterway, and together we will attack Liu Qi and capture Jingzhou."
Huang Gai said loudly: "Don't worry, my lord, we are willing to fight to the death, our heads may be cut off, our blood may be shed, and we will seek peace without breaking the ground."
Zhang Zhao jumped to his feet and shouted: "Have you forgotten the Battle of Hefei?"
Those words made the generals furious, but unable to refute, and Sun Quan's face was so gloomy that he could shed tears.
Seeing that the two sides were arguing, Bu Zhi said: "If we use Jiangdong's strength to fight against Cao's army, we may not be able to match it. It is better to go to Jingzhou to ask for help and see what Liu Qi wants before making a decision: If he is willing to abandon Guanzhong to help Jiangdong, it shows this." If people want to unite, they can complete the engagement and jointly fight against Cao's army; if they only seek personal gain and sit on the sidelines in an attempt to reap the benefits of being a fisherman, they can join forces with Cao to attack Jingzhou."
Zhuge Jin also clasped his fists and said: "My lord, the two families have already agreed to marry each other. If you regret it now, you will be laughed at by the world. I am willing to go to Jingzhou again to borrow troops from Liu Qi."
Sun Quan glanced at Lu Su and saw that his eyes were looking at his nose and his nose was looking at his heart. He stood there without saying a word and did not argue with Zhang Zhao.
Everyone complained. As Zhou Yu expected, these people were short-sighted and only wanted to be safe. The expedient solution was to drink poison to quench their thirst.
Sun Quan's face became more and more gloomy. The three of them had already discussed the pros and cons of this. No need to say more. The only way out is to resist Cao Cao, and to join forces with Cao Cao is to seek skin from a tiger.
Even if Jingzhou is captured, it will only be to strengthen Cao's army. Cao Cao has Jingzhou navy, occupying the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Along the river, there are troops from Huainan, and the situation will be even more serious than now.
Most of them agreed with Zhang Zhao's approach and advised Sun Quan to immediately send people across the river to make peace, otherwise hundreds of thousands of troops would cross the river and the land east of the river would be wiped out.
The defeat in the Battle of Hefei is still before our eyes. Although Zhang Liao has been transferred, Wu Jun's fear of Cao Jun has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and morale is extremely low.
After half an hour of discussion, the situation was one-sided. Although Cheng Pu and Huang Gai took the lead in facing the enemy, Zhang Zhao and others seized on the precedent of the Battle of Hefei and couldn't help but sarcastic. The generals could not argue and were about to take action again. .
Lu Su finally said: "Cao's army does not have enough warships and dare not cross the river yet. We can order Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin to lead the navy to defend along the river, and wait for the governor to arrive before we can discuss it."
Sun Quan suppressed his anger and asked everyone to retreat, leaving Lu Su and Zhuge Jin behind. His face was livid: "I have led Jiangdong for nearly ten years. I believe that the people's hearts are attached to me, and I have enough troops and food to compete with the heroes of the world. Now that I am facing the enemy, I personally Everyone wants peace, am I worse than the dying Liu Qi?"
A few of them had first discussed joining forces with Liu to fight against Cao, but now it was the most dangerous moment, and it was all in one fell swoop to test whether the decision was correct.
Zhuge Jin said: "Now Cao Cao does not avenge Nanyang's defeat, but instead recruits all the southern invaders. This is because Liu Qi is strong and Jingzhou is fighting to the death, which makes Cao Cao wary and come to bully Jiangdong. If Liu Qi knows about what happened just now, I am afraid that It also has the intention of taking Jiangdong."
Lu Su sighed and said: "In the past, when we defeated the rebellious generals, we weakly crowned them as school captains and started their own business. They swept across the east of the Yangtze River and the grass was destroyed. Cao Cao took the initiative to marry and seek peace. This is also the case. Assuming that Ruo Bofu had not been killed, he had unique talents and heroic spirit. , How dare Cao Cao look squarely at Jiangdong?"
