It was already dark, and Sun Ce was still sitting in the palace, but now the palace was lit with bright lights.
Tomorrow is the day for the army to go on the expedition, and Sun Ce is reviewing the memorials submitted by the armies on reorganization, food preparation and many other matters. He has wasted too much time these days, and he must know many things by heart.
The door of the palace was gently opened, and a woman walked in. Her steps were as light as a night owl walking in the darkness.
Sun Ce did not raise his head, but still wrote something on the memorial.
A young woman dressed in plain clothes walked five or six steps in front of Sun Ce and bowed down.
"The sinful woman Zhou's Shangguan Xing'er pays homage to the king."
Sun Ce then raised his head and looked at the woman, and he said gently.
"Miss Xing'er, you are no longer a prisoner of my Chu Kingdom. You can go wherever you want. I will let someone arrange for you to fake your death. This will not only preserve Youping's dignity, but also make Youping Quanxia feel at ease."
Shangguan Xing'er was silent for a long time. She had many identities. She was an assassin of the Wei State, a prisoner of the Chu State, and Zhou Tai's wife.
Zhou Tai's mansion was a prison planned for her by Sun. She didn't expect that she would be able to get out of that cage so soon.
"Your Majesty, what if I don't want to leave Zhou Mansion?"
"??????"
I originally wanted to let her go free, but she actually wanted to stay there. What seemed ridiculous to everyone at the beginning, maybe the two people involved really loved each other?
Sun Ce paused and sighed softly.
"Really? You also owe Youping. But you are still young, how about you stay a widow for the rest of your life for Youping?"
"You are not a fish, how can you know the joy of fish?"
Shangguan Xing'er touched her belly and said softly.
"Besides, I am already pregnant with his flesh and blood. Where else can I go except Zhou Mansion?"
His flesh and blood?
Zhou Tai’s child?
The memorial and pen in Sun Ce's hand fell to the ground with a crash. He stood up slightly in shock, stared at Shangguan Xing'er and asked tremblingly.
"Really? Is he really Youping's child?"
Seeing Shangguan Xing'er nodding affirmatively, Sun Ce's face seemed to have many wrinkles tangled together, as if he was crying or smiling.
"Okay, okay, okay! Get up quickly, get up quickly!"
"Come here! Send a team of people to take Mrs. Zhou back to the Junhou Mansion to take good care of her."
The guards outside the door hurriedly responded to the order and arranged carriages and horses to escort Shangguan Wan'er back to Zhou Mansion.
Early the next morning, the palace issued an edict: Zhou Tai was posthumously granted the title of Marquis of Dingjiang, and Zhou Shangguan was granted the title of Lady Gaoming. He was given a thousand taels of gold, a thousand pieces of silk and satin, and a hundred guards. In case of trouble, he could directly enter the palace to meet the king.
Everything was ready, and the 100,000 Chu troops finally set off, with their troops directed at Liu Bei.
The 30,000-strong left vanguard, commanded by Ji Shu, attacked from the waterway and headed straight for Wujiang Port.
The main force of 50,000 people on the left, commanded by Sun Ce, advanced slowly along the Lujiang River and Shiting, carefully searching the nearby mountains and forests, and setting up checkpoints to prevent Wei from repeating his old tricks.
However, Wei's intentions this time seem to be obvious. He gave Shouchun to Liu Bei as promised early on, and the main force rushed to Xuchang, leaving only a small number of troops to guard the Song County fortress, making it clear that he was sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers. Even so, Sun Ce did not dare to be careless, and strictly ordered the army to search the mountain carefully and advance slowly.
The remaining 20,000 Chu troops were commanded by Zhou Yu, who blocked the mouth of the Yangtze River to prevent Han troops from sneak attacks to the east of the Yangtze River. They also harassed the coastal areas of Guangling and Dongwu Port, leaving the Han troops exhausted.
??????
Riding the wind and waves all the way, just when everyone thought a hard battle was about to begin, Ji Shu captured Wujiang Port in just one day.
To be precise, this day was basically the time it took to travel and occupy the entire Wujiang Port. Not even half of the Han army could be found here.
"The Han army is as timid as a mouse. They must have fled when they saw our flag."
"I was standing in the front row when we received the body of Marquis Dingjiang. I heard that some kind of general from the Wei State said that Liu Bei had long ago sent people to the Wei State to secretly form an alliance against our Chu State. Later, he pretended to form an alliance with us to deceive us. Your Majesty, if this were not the case, how could Xu Han be our army’s opponent?”
"Exactly! I can't see that in two months we can rush into Xiapi City and avenge our brothers who died unjustly!"
"Two months? I can't see how one month is enough!"
Many soldiers were talking about it, and a feeling of contempt grew among the soldiers.
Ji Shu and Jiang Qin stood on the observation deck of the water village and listened to the voices of the soldiers.
After a while, Ji Shu asked Jiang Qin.
"What do you think?"
Jiang Qin thought for a moment and replied.
"Commander, water warfare is our army's strength. The entire Yangtze River waters are the courtyard of our great Chu. The Han army will have no chance of winning in a water war with us. It will be a matter of time to retreat. But it is so easy to give up. The Wujiang Port was unexpected, and my subordinates felt that this might be Zhuge Liang’s plan to make our army underestimate the enemy so that he could lure the enemy in to set up an ambush.”
Ji Shu nodded. It was not terrible that the soldiers underestimated the enemy, as long as their generals were clear-headed. He took out the map and showed it to Jiang Qin, then clicked on several areas and said.
"Send scouts to check these places near Wujiang Port. If there are no problems, let the army continue to move forward after eating. On the way to Shouchun, let scouts check these places where ambushes are easy to set up. Fan."
"yes!"
Jiang Qin took the order and left.
However, the journey was uneventful, with nothing out of the ordinary. It was as if the Han army was really afraid of the Chu army and fled all the way into Shouchun City, which made Ji Shu feel a little anxious.
Could it be that the Han army really gave up a large area of land and retreated to Shouchun?
Ji Shu was a little unsure of what Zhuge Liang had in mind. It wasn't that he didn't have a general who was good at defending, but it was not like Zhuge Liang's style to blindly defend the city.
He had no choice but to order the army to slow down its march and spread out scouts to increase the search area. Before making a judgment, he wanted to know what was happening around him?
"What? You said Shouchun City is on fire!"
For a moment, Ji Shu even doubted whether he heard correctly, but the scout who reported the report said seriously.
"I dare not hide it from the military advisor. I saw it with my own eyes when I was exploring for more than ten miles in Shouchun City. The city was filled with flames and thick smoke."
Ji Shu stood up slowly, dumbfounded, and walked around the tent.
It was impossible for Sun Ce to overturn his own strategy and advance quickly. Cao Cao focused all his energy on attacking Dong Zhuo, hoping that the Chu and Han armies would be in a stalemate and waste time, let alone help Chu attack Liu Bei. This can only be burned by Zhuge Liang himself.
Shouchun City, he doesn’t want it anymore?
"Send the order, the whole army rushes to Shouchun City."
Half a day later, 30,000 Chu troops under Ji Shu's command hurriedly arrived at Shouchun City. By this time, the fire had long been extinguished, and Shouchun City was not completely destroyed. Only the palace that Yuan Shu built for himself and the treasury in the city were burned.
On the ruins, Ji Shu picked up a burnt piece of wood and threw it to the ground.
"Liu Bei is so cruel. He won't leave us a brick or a tile. Fortunately, although Shouchun is not as good as Jianye, it still has a population of 200,000. Liu Bei is not so crazy that he burned down the entire city."
Huang Gai on the side smiled and said.
"Shouchun is a fertile land thousands of miles away, strategically located, and connected in all directions. It is a battleground for military strategists. Yuan Shu made this the capital of the country, but Cao Cao sent it away when he said it, and abandoned it when Liu Bei said it. It's really strange! They don't want it, but we are a big Chu country. Just right in the pocket.”
Ji Shu, on the other hand, frowned and kept sighing. He patted a stone that was almost burning black and sat down. He waved his hand to invite Huang Gai to sit down as well, and then he said.
"Old General Huang doesn't know something. Even though Shouchun is good, he must have enough strength."
"My eldest and second brothers and I originally wanted to use Shouchun as the main battlefield to lengthen Xu Han's defense line, and at the same time attract reinforcements from Xuzhou to fight me, and completely drag Liu Bei to death here."
"But now that Liu Bei leaves, we are the ones who have to stretch our defense line. We have to go deep into Xuzhou and fight Liu Bei for a decisive battle, and here in Shouchun we have to set up heavy troops to defend Cao Cao. Now that the Chu State's national power has been greatly damaged, this battle has already destroyed the country. battle. Although Shouchun was captured effortlessly this time, our military advantage over Xu Han is being reduced."
Huang Gai suddenly said.
"I didn't expect that gaining the city would be detrimental to our army. Military advisor, now that Liu Bei has returned to Xuzhou, what should our army do next??????"
"Report, military advisor, there is an urgent military situation!"
Before Huang Gai could finish his words, suddenly a soldier hurried forward to report.
Ji Shu burst into laughter and said leisurely.
"Don't be impatient. Speak slowly. Now that things have come to this, I want to see what other methods Zhuge Liang has."
"Yes, yes! According to the military advisor, the scouts just came to report that a large number of rumors suddenly appeared in the east of Shouchun and Pengcheng that our army was burning, killing, and slaughtering cities and villages in retaliation for the Han army. To put it bluntly, Shouchun City became a The people of Shouchun were burned by our army, and the people of Shouchun were said to have been slaughtered by our army. The people of Pengcheng were frightened, and except for some old people who could not walk, they all fled to Xuzhou. Nine out of ten houses were empty, and there was no one for hundreds of miles. "
