In the battle of Chengde, the Han army gained so much and suffered so little damage that it was unprecedented. Under the encirclement and siege of the Han army, Lu Su, the governor of Huainan of the Wu army, died in the battle, Lu Meng, the governor of Danyang, escaped alone, and Lu Dai, the governor of Jiaozhou, was captured. There were countless other officers of the Wu army who were either captured or dead, and more than 40 of them were identified from their heads alone.
As for the ordinary Wu soldiers who were attacked in the rain, many of them had fallen into the Feishui River, and their bodies were nowhere to be seen. But even so, there are still more than 8,000 heads that have been counted, so big pits have to be dug to fill them. The corpse pit was dug by 20,000 Wu captives. Looking at their expressions, their numb faces were like puppets. They seemed to be unable to think, let alone speak or smile. In comparison, the Han army's losses were only a little over a thousand men.
Of course, for Liu Xie, the biggest gain was the 20,000 Wu navy that surrendered to the Han army. There were 60 fighting ships, 50 Qingques, 300 stern ships, and six tower ships, all of which were handed over to the Han army unharmed. In addition, the existing ships of the Han army already surpassed the Wu navy, and they were enough to sail across the river and conduct an expedition to the south of the Yangtze River.
And this was just the result on the battlefield that day. As the news of the Han army's victory continued to ferment, it had new impacts one after another. Zhang Zhao and Quan Cong originally planned to take over the retreating Wu army, but when they heard the news of their own defeat, they were at a loss and found themselves in a dilemma. Zhou Buyi took advantage of the situation and led his army to surround Hefei, gathering the retreating Wu troops along the way. Force them to surrender to Hefei. Zhang Zhao felt that he had no choice but to surrender, and the Sun family was in decline, so he finally agreed to surrender.
After occupying Hefei, Zhou Buyi reported the news to the four counties in Huainan and spread the message widely. At this time, the Wu people had no available troops in the north of the Yangtze River. In just ten days, the four counties of Qichun, Lujiang, Jiujiang, and Guangling all changed their banners, and the north of the Yangtze River was no longer owned by the Wu people. At this time, Liu Xie marched his army into Hefei, joined Zhou Buyi at Chaohu, and ordered the Han army and surrendered troops to dock and Chen Bing. Two hundred thousand troops camped for more than 40 miles, with banners stretching out, boats and boats standing side by side, and their military strength was impressive and unparalleled for a while. The people in Jiangnan were frightened when they saw it from a distance.
Having said that, the outcome of the Chengde battle was not only unpredictable by the Wu people, but also far exceeded the expectations of the Han army. According to Zhuge Liang's original plan, he only hoped to defeat the Wu army, then occupy Shouchun, and use this as a stronghold to remove the outskirts of Hefei step by step. After capturing it, he would force the Wu navy back to the south of the Yangtze River, which would be considered a success. . But now the Han army has captured the four counties of Huainan with very slight losses, which raises a new question: Should we take advantage of the situation to cross the river and destroy Sun Wu in one fell swoop? Liu Xie was a little undecided.
According to common sense, since we have captured the new land of Huainan, we should work hard to stabilize the new foundation. Wait until three or four years later, when the land is peaceful and prosperous, the people's hearts are subdued, and the people surrender, and then they send troops directly towards Jianye, Jiangdong will be unable to resist. But on the other hand, the Wu Navy has now lost most of its troops. Except for Zhou Yu's troops in Jingzhou, there are only more than 30,000 defeated soldiers in Yangzhou, and the entire Yangtze River is almost undefended. Not crossing the river with troops at this time would be a bit too conservative. It is unknown how many casualties the Wu people will have to pay after waiting two years before fighting again.
After weighing the two aspects, Liu Xie decided to hold a military meeting first to see how the military morale was before making a decision.
There were many people involved in this military meeting, and the list was drawn up by Liu Xie himself. From the commander-in-chief of the three armies, to the Sima of the army, as close as the accompanying Lang officer, as far away as the Huainan County magistrate, and even the Wu generals and local county officials, all came to Hefei to participate in the meeting. On the day of the meeting, everyone in the meeting was shocked to find that the emperor had actually invited more than two hundred people, which could almost be called a small court meeting.
Pang Tong first said: "After the Wu thief was defeated, people in the south of the Yangtze River were panicked and couldn't sleep at night. It was indeed a good opportunity to cross the river. But when will the little thief be invincible? It's winter now, and it will take another two months. It's the end of the year, and the soldiers are worried about returning home, so I'm afraid they can't talk about war. However, His Majesty has been on an expedition for a long time, and there is no one to take charge of the country. There are also people's livelihood issues in Huaibei, so there are often rumors in the capital that something is wrong with Your Majesty. This is not a good sign, and all the officials in the court Everyone is eagerly awaiting His Majesty's return."
Huang Quan also agreed with this idea. He echoed: "Your Majesty, the Wu people do not have river defense at the moment, but our navy can hardly do anything. In the battle of Chengde, although there were countless boats, there were few people to operate them. Crossing the river will probably take twice the effort with half the effort, and if something unexpected happens, there will be no way to retreat."
Wei Xi was quite dissatisfied with this. He said: "The Wu people suffered a series of defeats, and they must have a grudge against the Sun family. When Wang Shi fought in Huaibei, didn't two old men, Deng Dang and Zhang Zhao, submit to him? It can be seen that the situation is very good. As long as Wang Shi crosses Jiang, send many envoys to appease the surrounding people and promote the heroes of Wu. The people of Wu will definitely surrender. When the time comes, Sun Quan will be alone and can be captured with a single blow, so why wait until the end of the year?"
Secretary Lang Liu Fang also said: "What Mr. Wei said is true! Now that Huainan is at peace, the world is unified, and this is the moment. You all hesitated to come forward. Could it be that you have forgotten how miserable the common people of Jiuzhou have been in the past thirty years?" Your Majesty obeys Heaven and responds to people, punishes people and punishes sins, and unifies the country, which is a blessing to all people! How can you retreat like this?"
Liu Xie was not in a hurry to make a judgment, but waited patiently for everyone to finish speaking. At the same time, he also noticed that except for the general Soochow who had remained silent, the governor Zhou Buyi had not yet expressed his stance. So he asked Zhou Buqi: "Wen Zhi, in your opinion, should I cross the river?"
After hearing the emperor ask Zhou Buji's opinion, all the staff stopped arguing and turned their gazes over. In this great victory of Chengde, although Zhou Buyi was not able to personally participate in killing the enemy, in fact he was the primary contributor to the victory. In the past few days, rumors circulated privately in the army that the emperor planned to promote him to the rank of General Wei, under Qi Gong. Looking at the past and present, I am afraid that only the former champions can have such a favor. And his opinions are naturally important and may directly determine the outcome of this military discussion.
After Zhou Bujie was named, he slowly walked to the front, and then said: "Your Majesty, whether you can cross the river or not, the opinions of the ministers are not important. It depends on the morale of the military and the public opinion. You cannot lose one or the other. If the morale of the military is available, you can fight." , if public opinion can be used, we can win. I don't know about these two, so I just didn't say anything."
Seeing that his friend agreed with him, Liu Xie was greatly relieved. With a slight smile on his lips, he asked again: "What Wen Zhi said is true, but military morale and public opinion are hard to predict. How can we know?"
"Your Majesty is already doing it. Isn't today's military meeting just for this purpose?"
Liu Xie laughed when he heard this, and then ordered all the officers participating in the meeting to stand up, including those on the left who were in favor of crossing the river, and those on the right who were not in favor. Soon, most people showed their left arms, and only a few people disapproved. Liu Xie saw Deng Ai who had reported previously and was a little curious for a moment. He called him over and asked, "Why does Shizai object?"
Deng Ai replied hesitantly: "Your Majesty, if we win this battle, it would be the best. But if we don't win, the king's division may not be able to return to the north of the Yangtze River, and the losses will be even more incalculable. The art of war always says, before you think about victory, think about defeat first, so as to Come to think of it, it is better not to cross the river." Deng Ai knew that the emperor was irritable, so after he finished speaking, he quickly lowered his head and looked at the ground, waiting for the emperor to rebuke him.
Unexpectedly, the emperor chuckled, patted Deng Ai on the shoulder and said: "It is the duty of a minister to speak impartially, and it is the duty of an emperor to choose his words and accept advice. What is Shi Zai afraid of? Could it be that he thinks that I am a Jie and Zhou who cannot listen to objections? King?" Then he said: "What you said about the art of war is correct, but let's talk about the matter now, how should the Wu thieves win? It is just to defend the city and wait for our army to retreat. How can there be a big defeat? Could it be another change? A navy?"
Speaking of this, Liu Xie turned to Zhang Zhao and asked: "Mr. Zhang, how many naval forces does Zhou Yu have in Jingzhou? How many troops and horses does he have?"
Zhang Zhao replied: "Your Majesty, Jiangling and Xiakou have a navy contract of 30,000 men, and the ships are equivalent to the Huainan Navy. In addition to the navy, there are also 30,000 men in Anlu, Xiling, Changsha and other places. It’s just that it’s very difficult to defend the cities separately, and I’m afraid only the navy can mobilize them.”
Liu Xie chuckled when he heard this and asked again: "What does Mr. Zhang think of the public opinion in Jiangdong?"
Zhang Zhao replied again: "Your Majesty is so powerful that he is always victorious in every battle, but the people of Wu are content to be content with peace and never fight a war of disparity. If your Majesty's army crosses the river, there is no need to fight. The military might alone will be enough to conquer Jiangdong!"
After the conversation was over, Liu Xie ordered Deng Ai to retreat, and then smiled at Zhou Buyi and said: "The military morale and public opinion are both available. Wen Zhi, it seems that crossing the river is inevitable."
Liu Xie had already planned to forge ahead, and after this meeting, his determination became even stronger. Then he issued an edict to the court, saying that it was a great victory for virtue. The north of the Yangtze River was cleared, and the giant bandits were eliminated. With this move, the plan to cross the river was decided. Discussions in the army also subsided, and they turned to full-scale preparations for war.
Liu Xie first ordered Huang Quan to organize and train the navy, and integrate the Wu surrender troops into the navy. Firstly, it was to strengthen the navy, and secondly, it was also a political offensive, hoping to disintegrate Jiangdong's will to resist. According to Huang Quan, the reorganization can be completed in about one month.
He also ordered Zhang Zhao to cross the Yangtze River and go south, and persuade his old troops Chen Wu, Kuang Qi and others to surrender one by one. As soon as this order came out, it caused a wave of criticism in the army. Some people said privately: "Your Majesty is too lenient with these Wu people. They are just some sectarians. Why do you need to appease them? Even if there are not these people, our army will send thousands of horses to cross the river. Who in the east of the river can stop them?" Of course, Liu After Xie De heard about it, these rumors immediately dissipated and the source could not be found.
At the same time, Liu Xie personally mobilized military equipment and intervened in local affairs in Huainan, aiming to restore basic order in Huainan in the shortest possible time and solve logistical problems for the army to cross the river. He really did it all. Within a month, the thieves in Huainan were scattered, and the counties were relieved. This autumn's taxes were delivered to Hefei as promised, enough to support the army until the early spring of next year.
By November of this year, everything was ready. Liu Xie personally led a mighty army of 200,000 people, crossed the Yangtze River from Liyang, and officially landed on the land of Jiangnan at Niuzhujitou.
