Chapter 2655: Wu State splits Chu State and attacks, Sun Ce VS Sun Liu (Part 1)
Regarding whether to support Sun Ce or Sun Quan, Da Qin’s attitude has always been to support whoever is more advantageous.
Previously, the senior leaders of Da Qin, including Ying Hao, believed that supporting the weak Sun Ce would be more beneficial to Da Qin, because once Sun Ce provoked civil strife in Soochow, Chu would not let go of this opportunity to destroy Wu.
After all, between protecting the Central Plains and destroying Soochow, Liu Xiu would definitely choose to destroy Soochow.
The Central Plains region was too far away from the Chu State, and the only way Liu Xiu could support the Three Kingdoms in the Central Plains was to send troops to the Northern Expedition to attack Xiangyang City, in order to contain some of Qin's forces.
But Xiangyang is the most fortified city in Jingzhou. It can be said to be impregnable. Even if the Chu State sends all its troops northward, it may not be able to break it in a short time.
If Xiangyang is not captured, Chu will not even be able to threaten Jingbei, and naturally it will not be able to contain much of the Qin army.
In other words, in terms of protecting the Central Plains, what the Chu State could do was actually very limited. Even if it tried its best, it might not be able to stop Da Qin, and the benefits it would gain would not be more than a dozen counties around Xiangyang.
Such a small amount of income is completely incomparable with killing Wu.
If Chu State can destroy Wu State, it will not only be able to completely occupy the Yangtze River defense line, but also free up most of the troops defending Soochow. From then on, there will be no constraints south of the Yangtze River. It can be said that it can advance, attack, retreat and defend, and has great war potential. It exploded several times in an instant.
Therefore, if the opportunity to destroy Wu really arises, Liu Xiu will have no other choice but to send troops to destroy Wu.
For the Chu State, destroying Wu was not only the most beneficial thing, but also self-preservation and survival.
But once the Chu State sends troops to destroy Soochow, it will naturally be unable to support the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains, and the Qin Dynasty can concentrate its efforts to destroy the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming first.
It was with this idea that Da Qin tried its best to protect Sun Ce. For this reason, it even hesitated to offend Sun Quan and refused Sun Quan's request to repatriate Sun Ce.
Regarding Sun Ce's coup plan, Ying Hao actually knew about it earlier than Sun Ce. He thought that even if Sun Ce could capture Jianye, he would definitely not be able to capture Sun Quan.
After all, the entire Wu Kingdom has been controlled by Sun Quan, and the military power of Jianye is in Sun Quan's hands. Even if Sun Quan can't stop Sun Ce, he won't be able to escape, right?
Once Sun Quan escapes Jianye, Soochow will definitely split, and Chu will definitely attack Wu.
But what Ying Hao and Da Qin's many think tanks didn't expect was that Sun Quan would stretch his hips so much that he couldn't even run away even if he couldn't defeat Sun Ce.
The process of Sun Ce's coup was too easy. It only took half a day from beginning to end to capture Sun Quan and control Jianye. The speed was so fast that Chu and Qin had no time to react.
For Da Qin, the failure of Sun Ce's coup was a bad thing, but if it was too successful, a good thing could also turn into a bad thing.
If Sun Ce were to take control of Wu so quickly, with the abilities of Sun Wu, Wu Zixu, Lu Su and others, it might not be enough to enter, but it would be more than enough to defend the city.
Although the State of Chu was stronger than the State of Wu in terms of generals and military strength, it had always been inferior to the State of Wu in terms of top commanders, especially Sun Wu, who single-handedly defeated the entire State of Chu.
If Sun Ce takes full control of Soochow, he will definitely re-enable Sun Wu, Wu Zixu and others.
Liu Xiu had been defeated at the hands of Sun Wu many times. Naturally, he knew that facing powerful enemies such as Sun Wu, Wu Zixu, and Lu Su, even with an overwhelming army, he was not sure of victory, so he naturally did not dare to send troops to attack Wu easily.
At this time, the Central Plains War has begun, and hundreds of thousands of Chu troops will definitely not be idle. If Liu Xiu does not send troops to attack Wu, they will definitely use them to prevent Qin from conquering the Central Plains.
In order to prevent Chu State from hindering Qin's capture of the Central Plains, Ying Haocai planned this plan behind his back and sent two great masters to rescue Sun Quan, thus causing the division of Wu State and luring Liu Xiu to take the bait.
After all, Liu Xiu must protect both the Central Plains and Jiangdong. There are too many variables in the Central Plains. Only by destroying Wu can Chu have the capital to compete with Qin.
Therefore, Liu Xiu had no choice at all. Even if he knew that this was Da Qin's conspiracy, he could not miss this golden opportunity.
In order to successfully capture the Central Plains, Ying Hao also took great pains to plot against both Wu and Chu. The biggest victim was probably the State of Wu, who became a pawn for no reason, but the State of Wu was not innocent.
The general trend of the world is that if it has been divided for a long time, it must be united, and if it has been united for a long time, it must be divided.
Da Qin not only had the strength to unify, but also started a war of unification. Even if the Wu State was not destroyed by Chu State this time, it would be destroyed by Da Qin sooner or later.
Either die early or die late, so why not contribute some value to the future unification of the Qin Dynasty?
Of course, Da Qin would not let the Wu Kingdom be destroyed easily. It would be best to fight with the Chu Kingdom to lose both sides and run out of ammunition and food.
In this case, after the Qin Dynasty reaches the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains, it can directly send troops to destroy Wu and Chu without even needing to rest.
Jianye, Wu Palace.
Sun Ce was very worried at this time, not because he found out that Sun Quan had escaped, but because he was dealing with his biological mother, Mrs. Wu, his uncle Wu Jing, and other Sun family elders.
Mrs. Wu actually preferred her eldest son Sun Ce, and hoped that Sun Ce would inherit the throne of King Wu, but she did not want the eldest son and the second son to fight each other.
After learning that Sun Ce secretly returned to China to launch a coup, imprisoned his younger brother Sun Quan, and killed many generals such as Zhu Cai and Xie Yi, Mrs. Wu, under Sima Yi's instigation, believed that Sun Ce was greedy for power and would usurp his younger brother. Location.
Sima Yi was very eloquent and bluntly said that Sun Ce would definitely kill Sun Quan. Mrs. Wu was also persuaded and worried that Sun Ce would really be harmful to Sun Quan, so she immediately called her younger brother Wu Jing and other Sun family members to come to find her eldest son to discuss the matter. If you want to explain it, you can say that nothing can be done to the disadvantage of the eldest son to the second son.
Facing the accusations from his biological mother and all his elders, Sun Ce also explained that the original intention of his coup was actually because Sun Quan had killed his father and wanted to kill himself.
But with Sima Yi's words in front, Mrs. Wu preconceived the idea and only thought that Sun Ce was excusing herself. She simply did not believe that Chunliang's second son would commit such a heinous act as patricide.
Mrs. Wu even thought that Sun Ce was deliberately framed by Sun Quan, so that he would be infamy for his father's murder, so as to prepare for the subsequent murder of his younger brother to seize the throne, so she cried, made trouble, and hanged herself, asking Sun Ce to release Sun Quan. Otherwise, he would starve to death, and Sun Ce would be accused of being unfilial.
Faced with the persecution of his mother, uncle and many other elders, Sun Ce was also very helpless. He could only look to his cousin Wu Fen for help and asked him to take his uncle Wu Jing and other elders away. He repeatedly promised his mother that in the future Without conclusive evidence, he would never kill his brother Sun Quan, so he barely stabilized Mrs. Wu.
Next, Sun Ce didn't care about anything. He handed over all matters, big and small, to Sun Bin, while he investigated all Sun Quan's movements in the past three or four years.
In the end, it doesn’t matter if we don’t check. Once we check, the problem will really be found.
Sun Quan's patricide was done flawlessly. All the people involved were eliminated and no evidence was left in the world. However, because it was done too cleanly, there were still problems.
"Mother, you see for yourself, Sun Quan had already begun to recruit masters in the world four years ago when he was the governor of Kuaiji. Many masters such as Jiangzuo Sword Lord, Wujun Sword King, Jiangnan Ba Sword, etc. were all recruited by him. He secretly recruited these people under his command, and later he placed them in the Military Intelligence Department.
But after his father was born, Jiangzuo Jianjun and other twenty-eight masters disappeared on the same day even though they were not assigned any tasks, and their lists were even crossed out from the Military Intelligence Department.
If the boy hadn't gone through all the files, he wouldn't have known that there were still these people in the Military Intelligence Bureau. "
Sun Ce gritted his teeth and said that although he had confirmed that Sun Quan had killed his father before, he was suffering from the lack of any evidence.
Although the evidence currently in Sun Ce's hands still cannot prove Sun Quan's case, it can be concluded that it is almost certain.
Twenty-eight experts from the Military Intelligence Department disappeared one after another in Jianye City on the day Sun Jian died, and even the list was secretly removed. There is obviously something wrong with this. It is most likely that Sun Quan killed them in order to cover up the murder of his father. .
"Impossible. How could Zhong Mou kill his father? This is absolutely impossible."
Mrs. Wu was not stupid. After all, there were so many doubts here, and coupled with her daughter Sun Shangxiang's words, she actually believed in Sun Ce, but it was a little difficult to accept it for a while.
"I want to ask Zhongmou personally."
Mrs. Wu gritted her teeth and said, she still held a bit of luck in her heart. After all, as long as she didn't beat him to death completely, no mother would be willing to believe that her son would commit patricide.
Mrs. Wu couldn't accept it, how could Sun Ce accept it?
His father Sun Jian, King Cao Cao of Wei, and Emperor Ying Wen of Qin were not called the "Three Heroes of Troubled Times", but they were heroes worthy of heaven and earth. How could he accept the absurdity of being killed by his own son? How to die?
As soon as he thought of this, Sun Ce's heart was as sharp as a knife, his eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Mother, I also want to ask Sun Quan, how could my father be so sorry for him, to do such an unscrupulous thing?"
Looking at her eldest son's murderous eyes, Mrs. Wu did not speak for Sun Quan again this time. After all, patricide was too treacherous. If Sun Quan really did it, even if Sun Ce didn't do it, she would kill this traitor herself. , to worship the spirit of the deceased husband in heaven.
Immediately afterwards, Sun Ce took Mrs. Wu and prepared to go to the secret prison where Sun Quan was imprisoned. However, upon arrival, he found that the prison was empty.
More than a hundred people responsible for guarding Sun Quan, including the most powerful master, all died tragically on the spot. Only Sun Quan's whereabouts are unknown, and he was obviously rescued.
Sun Ce checked everyone's corpses and found that they were all killed with one sword. He could kill a master master with one move, and killed more than a hundred people without alerting anyone. This shows that the people who came to rob the prison were extremely powerful. Strong, at least he has a great master.
In addition, although the corpses in the prison were already stiff, the sword intent on the wounds had not completely dissipated, which also meant that Sun Quan was kidnapped less than two hours ago.
"Send the order to cordon off the whole city immediately."
Sun Ce ordered with a livid face. He was not angry about Sun Quan being kidnapped, but angry about how Sun Quan's detention location was leaked.
In order to prevent Sun Quan from being rescued, Sun Ce personally imprisoned him secretly. Only a few people including Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Wu Zixu, and Lu Su knew about it.
But Sun Quan was only detained for two or three days and was rescued. This shows that there must be a traitor among his people.
Sun Ce checked the people who knew it several times, but still couldn't find any clues, because these people had no reason to betray him.
Sun Wu and Wu Zixu went to Lujiang and Yuzhang to take over military power, while Sun Bin and Lu Su took control of Jianye on their behalf, appeased the prefects of the counties and won over the generals.
They have no reason to betray themselves!
"We can't continue to have such groundless suspicions. Maybe Zhongmou left some back-ups. The top priority is to capture Sun Quan again." Sun Ce shook his head.
Sun Ce's reaction was not slow, but it was still a step too late. Before the order was conveyed, Sun Quan had already escaped from Jianye under the protection of Xie An, Zhou Tai and others and went straight to Wu Commandery.
After Sun Ce learned the news, he immediately led five thousand cavalry to pursue him, but fell into Xie Xuan's golden cicada escape plan.
Xie Xuan proposed a plan to Sun Quan. He and Zhou Tai would lead 5,000 soldiers and horses, pretending to be 20,000 troops, and retreat to Wu County from the direction of Jurong through a shortcut to attract Sun Ce's attention, while Sun Quanze took the remaining soldiers and horses. , take a long way to Yangxian to go to Wuxian.
Sun Ce was in a hurry to catch up with Sun Quan and did not realize that he had fallen into a trap.
After a great battle, although Sun Ce easily annihilated Zhou Tai and Xie Xuan's 5,000 cavalry army, Sun Quan was completely exposed, and Zhou Tai and Xie Xuan even fled back to Wu Commandery by water.
After Sun Quan fled back to Wu County, with the support of Bu Zhi, the prefect of Wu County, he immediately issued an edict from the King of Qin and sent a large number of envoys to various counties and generals stationed in various places in the Song Dynasty.
In the edict, Sun Quan accused Sun Ce of usurping the throne and seizing power. He even prepared to slander himself as a parricide, and asked the prefects of the prefectures and the local armies to attack Sun Ce.
After Sun Quan's edict was issued, he quickly received the support of the three prefects: Gu Hui, the prefect of Kuaiji, Qian Liu, the prefect of Linhai, and Xie Shi, the prefect of Dongyang. Together with Bu Zhi, the prefect of Wu County, four of the ten counties in the Wu Kingdom had stations. In Sun Quan's camp.
As for Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Yizhou, as well as the powerful generals with military power such as Pang Juan and Tian Ji, they neither expressed support for Sun Ce nor Sun Quan. Most of them were still waiting and watching.
After seeing Sun Quan blaming him and rejecting the edict, Sun Ce was naturally furious. He immediately prepared to mobilize all his Jianye troops to attack Wu County and capture Sun Quan alive to avoid future troubles.
But at this moment, Sun Ce received news that Liu Xiu had raised 350,000 troops and divided them into four groups to attack Wu.
(End of chapter)
