Chapter 2657: Zheng Zhilong separatizes Yizhou, and the melee between the four kingdoms in Yingzhou begins
Bo Pi was a senior official of the State of Wu in the late Spring and Autumn Period. During the period of King Fu Chai of Wu, he was appointed as Dazai, also known as Dazai Pi.
Bo Pu was fond of merit, greedy for money and lust, ruined his loyal ministers at home, collaborated with the enemy's country externally, and ignored the safety of the country for his own selfish interests. He was a thoroughly treacherous minister.
However, among the traitorous ministers, there were also many capable ones, and Bo Pu was just one of them.
After Bo Pi was born, he was also implanted as a member of the Jiangdong family. Because of his outstanding abilities, he was valued by Sun Quan. He was soon promoted to the prefect of Pan Yang and was considered one of Sun Quan's die-hard supporters.
Although Bo Pi now surrenders to Sun Ce, he is only forced by power and is convinced in face but not in heart.
In addition, Panyang County was the southwest gateway of Wu State and its geographical location was too important. Sun Ce was not very confident about Bo Pu, so he was already preparing to find someone to replace him, which naturally made Bo Pu extremely dissatisfied.
Therefore, after receiving the letter from Sun Quan, Bo Pu decided to return to his old master Sun Quan without much thought, and prepared to act in accordance with Sun Quan's orders, but he still needed to plan how to implement it.
After the original Yuzhang County was divided into three parts, it became: Yuzhang, Pengze and Panyang counties.
After the division, Panyang County, which was the southern part of the original Yuzhang, consisted of ten counties including Ganxian, Nancheng, Nanye, and Yudu, and the administrative seat was set in Ganxian.
There are currently 20,000 defenders in Panyang County, of which 15,000 are in the hands of Zhenxi General Han Qinhu. However, Bo Pu, the Panyang prefect, only has 5,000 troops, of which 3,000 are stationed in Nancheng. .
Sun Quan wanted Bo Chu to abandon Nancheng directly and voluntarily give up the Panyang Gate to Cao Shen, so as to lure the Chu army into the territory of Wu.
But for Bo Pu, he could not just abandon the city and flee, because doing so would be tantamount to treason.
If he really did this, not only would Bo Pi die, but his family would also be implicated.
Moreover, the location of Nancheng was too important. Han Qinhu had already fixed his eyes on this place. Even if Bo Chu really retreated without a fight, Han Qinhu would not remain indifferent.
If Bo Pi had just abandoned Nancheng with his front foot and Han Qinhu had moved in with his rear foot, he could have used Nancheng's defense facilities to resist the Chu army for a period of time while waiting for Sun Wu's reinforcements.
If such a situation is really caused, it will not have the effect of luring wolves into the house and driving tigers to devour wolves.
Therefore, after making some calculations, Bo Chu decided to defend Nancheng for half a day, and then withdrew from Nancheng on the grounds that the Chu army's offensive was too fierce and Nancheng was not strong enough to defend.
In this way, Bo Pi was defeated due to lack of ability, rather than retreating without a fight. Relatively speaking, the crime was much smaller. Even if Sun Ce wanted to appease the surrendered ministers, he would not be able to punish Bo Pi severely.
Panyang County Nancheng County is not a big city, but because it is built on the mountains and the terrain is dangerous, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so it takes on the important task of Panyang South Gate.
Cao Shen led 50,000 Chu troops, starting from Chen County, the seat of Guiyang County. They marched over mountains and ridges for ten days before entering Nancheng.
Cao Shen also knew that Nancheng was easy to defend but difficult to attack, so he did not expect to break through it in one fell swoop. As long as he could break through Nancheng before Han Qinhu's reinforcements arrived, it would be fine.
From the time Han Qinhu received the news to the time he led his troops to Nancheng, it would take at least three days.
Cao Shen needs to crush the hard bone of Nancheng within three days, which is still very difficult.
After all, with the defensive power of Nancheng, if there is a good general, even if there are only 3,000 defenders, even if they face ten times the enemy, there will be no problem in defending for a month. But unfortunately, as the governor of Pan Yang, Bo Pu has no problem at all. I don’t want to keep it.
As Cao Shen expected, the Chu army fought very bravely on the first day of the siege, and the overall siege rhythm was also very good. However, they still failed to break through the city. They only filled in the moat and attacked the tower several times.
But it doesn't matter, there are still two days left, and Cao Shen is 60% sure that he can break Nancheng within three days before Han Qinhu's reinforcements arrive.
But what Cao Shen never expected was that before the first day of the siege was over, and the Nancheng garrison could still hold on, the garrison suddenly ordered to withdraw.
Bo Po was worried that Cao Shen would pursue him, so before leaving, he burned the food, grass and baggage, and set fire to block the road to delay.
What Bo Pu did was obviously very unreasonable in the eyes of the always cautious Cao Shen. Naturally, he was worried that it was a trap, so he did not dare to let the army enter the city.
Cao Shen first sent a small group of troops into the city to investigate. After confirming that there was no problem, he entered the city and immediately gave the order. "Give me all the information about Bo Pu, the governor of Pan Yang."
Soon, all the information about Bo Pu was presented to Cao Shen.
After Cao Shen quickly browsed Bo Chu's information and learned that Bo Chu was actually Sun Quan's man, but was forced to turn to Sun Ce due to the situation, he immediately closed his eyes and meditated.
After a long time, Cao Shen smiled and said: "It seems that the internal conflicts in Soochow are much more intense than we expected. This is really a God-given opportunity to destroy Wu."
Cao Shen, who followed Xiao Gui and Cao Cao, could become the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty after Xiao He, which proves that his political ability is not weak.
Combining Bo Chu's intelligence and all the unreasonable things he encountered now, it is not difficult to guess with Cao Shen's wisdom that there are various deep meanings behind Bo Chu's initiative to abandon the city despite being able to hold Nancheng.
Cao Shen didn't have any intention of exposing Bo Pi. After all, having a villain like Bo Pi who didn't care about the overall situation and only cared about his own interests would be a good thing for Chu State. Even if he really caught Bo Pi, he would release him.
After Cao Shen occupied Nancheng, he took a short rest and then continued to march towards Nanye City. As long as this city could be captured, he could directly attack Gan County, the seat of Panyang County.
At the same time, Han Qinhu was leading his army and rushed to support Nancheng without stopping. However, he received news halfway that Nancheng had been captured by the Chu army.
Han Qinhu suddenly became furious and cursed loudly: "Trash, Bo Pu is simply a trash."
Han Qinhu was a pure military general and naturally did not understand the twists and turns of the literati. He really thought that Bo Po could not defend Nancheng for even a day, so he decisively ordered a retreat and prepared to concentrate his troops to retreat to Gan County. At the same time, he reported to Sun Wu and Sun Ce that Nancheng has fallen and the southwestern gateway has been lost.
Although Sun Wu was also dissatisfied with Bo Pu's incompetence, it was difficult to hold him accountable at this time.
Most of the officials appointed by Sun Quan were incompetent. If Bo Pi was dealt with due to incompetence at this time, it would obviously cause panic among the surrendered officials of Sun Quan, so they could only wait until after the war to hold Bo Pi accountable. .
Not only Sun Wu, but also Sun Ce who was far away in Jianye could not see the problem, but Sun Bin noticed something was wrong at a glance.
"My lord, although Bo Chu is incompetent, the three thousand garrison guarding Nancheng are elites personally trained by Governor Sun Wu.
The three thousand elites rely on the favorable geographical location of Nancheng. Even if they face ten times the enemy, it will not be a problem to hold on for five or six days, and they will definitely not be able to hold on for even one day.
So Nanchenghui missed it half a day ago, maybe Bo Pu did it intentionally. "Sun Bin said sharply.
"What?"
When Sun Ce heard this, he was furious and immediately prepared to order Bo Pi's arrest, but Sun Bin persuaded him to stop him.
Bo Pi was not stupid. If he were arrested directly at this time, if Bo Pi jumped over the wall and surrendered to the Chu State, it would not be worth the loss for the Chu State, and it would also cause uneasiness among the officials sent by Sun Quan.
It would be better to stabilize Bo Pu first, let Han Qinhu control him secretly, and collect evidence of Bo Pu's indolence in the army, and then execute Bo Pu after the war is declared guilty.
Sun Bin's handling method was flawless and there were no hidden dangers. Sun Ce naturally had no reason to refuse and immediately ordered Han Qinhu to do just that.
After Han Qinhu received Sun Ce's order, he first transferred Bo Pi's troops into the city on the pretext of defending Gan County, and then on the pretext of discussing military affairs, he controlled Bo Pi when he was alone with him, thus taking over Bo Pi. Military power in hand.
Later, Han Qinhu personally went to ask the soldiers in Bo Chu's army, and learned from the soldiers that Bo Chu could defend but voluntarily abandoned the city. Han Qinhu was so angry that he even wanted to kill Bo Chu directly, but he could not do so. Do it, because killing Bo Pi at this time will only intensify the conflict.
Under Han Qinhu's torture, Bo Pi couldn't bear the punishment, so in order to escape the crime, he shifted the responsibility to Sun Quan.
Han Qinhu was naturally shocked by this and quickly reported it to Sun Ce.
Sun Bin had actually analyzed Sun Quan's instructions to Bo Chu a long time ago, but now even if he has the evidence, he still can't help Sun Quan. In addition, in order to resist the overall situation of Chu, Sun Ce even helped Sun Quan conceal it. It was really frustrating to death.
However, although Sun Quan's vigilance was at its extreme, Sun Ce dispatched 80% of his strength to deal with Liu Xiu, leaving 20% to defend Sun Quan. At the same time, he also worked harder to win over Pang Juan, Zheng Zhilong and other generals who were still waiting and watching.
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Yizhou, later known as Taiwan, was located in the southeast of Linhai County.
Yizhou Island is two thousand miles away from the county. The land is frost-free and the vegetation is immortal. It is surrounded by mountains. The mountains are inhabited by barbarians and there is no access to the Central Plains. It is called Dongfan.
The reason why Soochow Wu occupied Yizhou actually had something to do with Japanese pirates.
When the Japanese pirates invaded the eastern coastal area, they encountered strong resistance from the coastal countries. After defeating the incoming Japanese pirates, Wu State naturally wanted to wipe out these bold bandits, but in the process of chasing the Japanese pirates, they accidentally killed them. He crashed onto Yizhou Island.
Sun Jian learned that there was such a large island east of Jiangdong. Not only were tens of thousands of barbarians on the island, they could be captured to replenish the people and expand the army, but if the land was developed, millions of acres of fertile farmland could be obtained. Naturally, he wanted to Capture this island.
At that time, nearly half of the land in Wu State was in the hands of aristocratic families, and the remaining land was barely enough for the people to cultivate.
However, the migration of a large number of northern refugees made the land resources of Soochow completely insufficient to be distributed, and the conflict between Sun Jian and the family became more and more intense.
At this time, the discovery of a large island like Yizhou was like a sudden rain after a long drought for Wu State.
Wu State can completely transfer the acute land conflicts in the country by immigrating to Yizhou.
Therefore, even though the Wu State had not completely suppressed the Shanyue rebellion at that time, Sun Jian still sent Lu Meng to lead 5,000 Wu troops to the island, and it took only half a year to completely conquer Dongyi and occupy the entire Yizhou Island.
Sun Jian named it Yizhou, later established Yizhou County, began to vigorously relocate refugees to develop Yizhou, and appointed Sun Bin, his descendant who he liked but disliked, as the first governor of Yizhou.
After Sun Bin was exiled to Yizhou, he did not feel sorry for himself. Instead, he shouldered the responsibility of the prefect.
Under Sun Bin's governance, Yizhou now has 13 counties with a total population of nearly 300,000. It is a hub for trade with various countries in Southeast Asia, and it also has Wu's second largest naval base.
Sun Bin fulfilled his duties in Yizhou, but after Sun Quan came to power, he immediately removed Sun Bin from his position as Yizhou governor and replaced him with Zheng Zhilong, who surrendered on his own initiative.
Zheng Zhilong was also an old subordinate of Sun Ce, but as a water bandit, he was relatively unprincipled. After Sun Quan became powerful, he immediately abandoned Sun Ce and took the initiative to side with Sun Quan.
Sun Quan also hoped to use Zheng Zhilong to completely destroy Sun Ce's power, so he naturally placed great emphasis on Zheng Zhilong and directly appointed him as the governor of Yizhou.
Sun Quan was not unkind to Zheng Zhilong, but when Sun Quan fled to Wu Commandery, he issued a message to attack Sun Ce. Among the five eastern governors, Zheng Zhilong was the only one who did not respond at all.
At this time, two letters were placed in front of Zheng Zhilong, sent by Sun Quan and Sun Ce respectively, and the contents were all about wooing Zheng Zhilong to support him.
"Father, how are you thinking? Now that the Chu Kingdom is attacking, we, Soochow, are in danger. When our country is in danger, it is the time for my father and son to do their best to serve the late king.
Although Sun Zhongmou was kind to his father in promoting him, he made a mess of Soochow. He was not the master of the Ming Dynasty. Only the eldest son could take on the important task of reviving the state of Wu. "
Zheng Chenggong said solemnly, trying to persuade his father to side with Sun Ce. After all, he was more optimistic about Sun Ce, who was favored by the public, than Sun Quan, who only had the support of aristocratic families.
When Zheng Zhilong heard this, a strange color flashed in his eyes.
He had been the governor of Yizhou for two years. He had great power and was able to speak his mind. His ambitions were once again ignited. He no longer wanted to go back to the old days of relying on others and being cautious.
Moreover, now that the Wu Kingdom is divided, internal strife has not ended, and foreign aggression has arisen, it is difficult to say whether the Chu army can be defeated. Zheng Zhilong obviously does not want to wade into troubled waters at this time.
Yizhou is isolated overseas and has abundant troops and food. It is the best territory for a separate country.
Not to mention that Zheng Zhilong has not yet raised a rebel flag, even if he does separatize Yizhou and rebel against Soochow, neither Sun Quan nor Sun Ce can do anything to him.
Zheng Chenggong, who was loyal to the Sun family, never expected that his father would have the idea of separatizing Yizhou at this time.
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Yingzhou, the governor's mansion of Wu State.
He Qi, the right governor of Yingzhou in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, like Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Yizhou, received letters from Sun Quan and Sun Ce, and the contents were also intended to win over him.
Unlike Sun Ce, Sun Quan also asked He Qi in the letter to abandon Yingzhou and lead the Yingzhou garrison, as well as the Wu Xie army, to immediately return to Wu with all its troops.
Sun Quan was now inferior to Sun Ce in terms of military strength, and the Chu State sent all its troops to attack Wu. He felt very insecure, so he wanted to recall the Yingzhou garrison to strengthen his local strength.
Although He Qi is also an old subordinate of Sun Ce, he is from the Jiangdong family. Naturally, it is impossible for him to stand on Sun Ce's side, but he is also unable to comply with Sun Quan's order.
"My lord, you are far away in Jiangdong and don't know the situation in Yingzhou. Now it is no longer possible to bring Wu Xiejun, even the garrison, back to Jiangdong..." He Qi said to himself with a wry smile.
There is only one possibility for He Qi to be unable to lead his army back to Jiangdong, and that is that the entire territory of Yingzhou has been in chaos, and this chaos is even worse than the previous Four Kingdoms Conquest of Japan.
The four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song, and Ming, as well as more than a dozen local forces in Yingzhou, started a war that swept the entire Yingzhou. It was impossible for Soochow to survive alone.
