Xiakou, Jiangxia, Jingzhou, is where the Soochow navy is stationed.
Zhou Yu, the general of Soochow and the governor-general, was meeting privately with a man in his military tent.
This man is none other than Qingxu Commander-in-Chief of Soochow, General Lu Xun.
Let me emphasize again that the official system of Soochow is different from that of Han and Wei. General Lu Xun is not the highest general in the country. There is a general above him.
Just... quite weird.
As the governor of Qingxu, Lu Xun should not have appeared in Xiakou.
Half a month ago, Sun Quan secretly recruited Lu Xun to go south to participate in the decision-making meeting, and finally finalized a plan to launch a campaign in Huainan, trying to use the old method to lure Cao Xiu deep into the army, and then capture Runan.
The commander of this battle, with Zhou Yu's recommendation and Sun Quan's acquiescence, was Qingxu Governor Lu Xun as the frontline commander.
The reason is simple. Sun Quan really can't find another outstanding commander who is capable of leading nearly 100,000 troops in combat.
Zhou Yu must stay in Jiangxia to ensure the suddenness of the battle. As soon as you send Zhou Yu to Huainan, whether it is Cao Xiu or Jia Kui, the first reaction will definitely be to strengthen the defense on the spot. Not to mention Zhou Yu's hair is broken, it is Zhou Yu who really If you give away your own head, no one will be fooled.
And Sun Quan must also take charge of Jianye.
Although Sun Quan had no idea about his ability to lead troops in combat, as an emperor, Sun Quan was a professional after all. He also knew that since he wanted to lure the enemy deeper, he couldn't do anything lightly.
Furthermore, Sun Quan also had to make secondary preparations. If Lu Xun failed in the battle in Huainan and Cao Xiu led his troops to break into Huainan, Sun Quan must also be prepared to lead troops to support Lu Xun and defend Huainan at any time.
After removing these two people, we had to find someone among the officials of Soochow who could command an army of nearly 100,000 people. Apart from Lu Xun, no other person could be found.
Although Zhu Huan, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng and others were extremely brave, they were able to garrison in one place, but their ability to lead an army in battle was still lacking.
Among the clan generals, currently only Sun Shao and Sun Sheng are barely useful, and these two are not even as capable as Zhu Ran, Lu Dai and others.
Zhuge Ke, the son of Zhuge Jin, is a talent that can be developed, but after all, Zhuge Ke is too young, a little self-righteous, and lacks experience. Sun Quan does not plan to use Zhuge Ke now, but throws Zhuge Ke to Shan Yue to practice in the future. After his grandson ascended the throne, he left it to him.
As for Lu Fan, Zhang Zhao, Zhuge Jin and others, it cannot be said that they have no ability to lead troops, but if they are really expected to lead an army in battle, then Sun Quan is really not as good as him.
Sometimes Sun Quan had to sigh with emotion. In the past few decades, although Wu's talents have emerged in large numbers, their talents have also withered too fast. I don't know if it is a problem of water and soil. Most of the generals in Soochow have a short life span. Very few people can live beyond the age of forty.
He Qi, who rose to fame with his pacification of Shanyue in the past two years, died of illness last year at the age of thirty-seven before Sun Quan could put him to good use.
As for the generals of the Huaisi Group who helped the Sun conquer the world and stabilize the Jiangdong regime in the early years, they have all withered away, leaving only Zhou Yu and Han Dang to support the scene.
Needless to say, Han Dang was too old. Sun Quan was reluctant to let this old general go to the battlefield again. After all, he was an elder who had followed his father for many years.
And to be honest, Han Dang is okay as a strong general who charges into battle, but the ability to lead troops in combat is really not his specialty.
As for Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu's health is getting worse every year. As the last pillar of the Huaisi Group, no one knows when he will fall.
Now Sun Quan is also treating Zhou Yu with the attitude of being able to use it temporarily, and he is also prepared that Zhou Yu may die of illness at any time.
The decline of the other force Sun Quan relied on, the clan generals, was what made Sun Quan most distressed.
The Sun family was not a big family in the first place. They managed to produce some talents, but all of them were short-lived.
From Sun Jing and Sun Bi who followed Sun Jian and Sun Ce to conquer the world in their early years, to Sun Yu, Sun Huan and Sun Jiao who Sun Quan had high hopes for, all of them did not live long.
Sun Jing passed away when she was over fifty, and Sun Bi was harmed by villains. When Sun Yu, Sun Huan, and Sun Jiao passed away, no one was even over forty years old. Now only Sun Shao and Sun Sheng are left. Hold up the scene.
The decline of a large number of Huaisi Group generals and clan generals forced Sun Quan to make a certain degree of compromise with the Jiangdong family and began to reuse some talents from the Jiangdong family. Lu Xun, Zhu Huan, and Zhu Ran were the best examples.
On the one hand, Sun Quan wanted to ensure the stability of his regime, and also to alleviate the current situation where no one was available. On the other hand, Zhu Huan, Zhu Ran, and Lu Xun were indeed outstanding in ability.
Especially Lu Xun, Sun Quan vaguely saw the shadow of Zhou Yu in his early years.
At first, just to appease and win over the Jiangdong family, Sun Quan played a check and balance and married his brother Sun Ce's daughter to Lu Xun. But now he did not expect that it was this Lu Xun that gave Sun Quan another commander-in-chief talent after Zhou Yu.
Therefore, this time Sun Quan officially appointed Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief of the Huainan Campaign, and he also had the intention of promoting Lu Xun.
Sun Quan believed in Lu Xun's ability and his own view of people.
Lu Xun was very grateful for Sun Quan's trust, but after all, this was the first time Lu Xun had such great military power, and he still felt a little uneasy in his heart.
When Lu Xun first became an official, he actually just helped Sun Quan with advice. Then when he had the opportunity to lead an army on an expedition, he only served as the commanding general of the army.
After nearly ten years of military training, Lu Xun has finally taken the position of governor of Qingxu. However, in the land of Qingxu, Lu Xun only needs to guard Xiapi, Langya County, Donghai County and Beihai County in Qingzhou. The others were guarding and nominally had to obey Lu Xun's orders, but in Qingxu's complicated environment, at most they could only cooperate with each other to fight.
Now let Lu Xun suddenly take control of nearly 100,000 troops and launch a battle against Runan. Lu Xun was initially a little unstable after taking power.
It's not that Lu Xun has no confidence in his abilities, he just lacks experience in this area, and he doesn't want the first important task assigned to him by the Supreme to go wrong in his own hands.
Therefore, Lu Xun, who was supposed to go to Huainan secretly to make preparations for the war, took a slight turn when passing through Lujiang River and went to Xiakou in Jiangxia to meet Zhou Yu secretly.
Lu Xun wanted to seek some strategic and military help from Zhou Yu.
But when Zhou Yu heard about Lu Xun's intention, he immediately couldn't laugh or cry.
On the one hand, Zhou Yu thought that Lu Xun was a little too humble and a little too worthy of the name he changed.
After so many years, Zhou Yu has long seen what your Lu Xun is capable of, and with Zhou Yu's character, if Lu Xun is really not suitable to be the commander-in-chief of this battle, let alone Zhou Yu's recommendation, Sun Quan will force the appointment. , Zhou Yu would resolutely fight back.
Since he personally recommended Lu Xun to Sun Quan, it meant that Zhou Yu recognized Lu Xun's ability.
On the other hand, Zhou Yu also sighed.
In the early years, Jiangdong's ministers were really full of talents, each with his own merits.
As a civil servant, Lu Su asked him to lead the troops in Baqiu to take his place. Lu Su took the position without saying a word, and he did an outstanding job. No one in the army was dissatisfied.
Even Lu Meng, whose strategic vision was considered too conservative by Zhou Yu, stood up when Sun Quan wanted to use him. He led the army for the first time and fought a brilliant battle in Jingnan, forcing a Xiangshui demarcation line.
As for the sneak attack on Jiangling, there was an element of adventure in it. It was okay for Lu Meng not to succeed. Although there was some hesitation during the battle, it did not cause too much loss to Soochow in the end, and finally withdrew his troops safely.
Why is it that now in the hands of Lu Xun, he still has such an unstable state of mind? This is not what a qualified commander should look like.
Zhou Yu was speechless, but had no choice.
Zhou Yu has also seen the decline of talents in Soochow over the years, but for this matter of destiny, Zhou Yu has no good way to survive. It is already a blessing from God.
There is no shortage of generals in Soochow today, but besides himself, Lu Xun is already the best general, and he is also the most suitable person to carry the banner of the Soochow military after himself. Therefore, although Zhou Yu feels that Lu Xun is too humble, he He still had to say what needed to be said.
There was actually nothing to say about Lu Xun's strategy. It had been discussed secretly in front of the palace. If there were any problems, Zhou Yu would raise them at that time.
As for the progress of the entire battle, Lu Xun, the coach, needs to control it himself. This is not something Zhou Yu can predict.
Therefore, in the final analysis, it is still Lu Xun's psychological problem, which needs Zhou Yu's guidance.
"I have always admired Boyan for his talent. However, this time when commanding the troops, Boyan's concern is not about fighting, but about himself."
Zhou Yu pointed out Lu Xun's biggest problem without any politeness.
"The five virtues of a general are wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and strictness. Boyan all knows them clearly, so I won't go into details." Zhou Yu continued, "I will only discuss this with Boyan: "Sun Tzu's Art of War" says that the affairs of a general are , tranquility leads to secludedness, righteousness leads to governance.”
The previous words are all nonsense, the most important thing is the last six words.
Or to be more precise, it’s the words “quiet and secluded”.
On the surface, Zhou Yu was warning Lu Xun that when using troops, one must think calmly and be foresighted. However, in fact, in line with Zhou Yu's previous statement that Lu Xun already knew the "five virtues of being a general", things cannot be understood so simply.
In order to combine the five virtues, the first requirement is "wisdom", which itself also has the meaning of calm thinking and foresight. When Zhou Yu said this, it seemed a bit inconsistent.
But Lu Xun was Lu Xun after all, and he heard the true meaning of Zhou Yu's words.
What Zhou Yu means is that in terms of military skills and leadership qualities, you, Lu Xun, have everything. You have ten years of military experience. Logically speaking, you are fully capable of commanding an army in battle.
But now, when you come to me to ask for advice, it's not that there's a problem with your ability at all, but that there's something wrong with your mentality.
It is normal for anyone to worry about gains and losses when working alone.
However, as a general, you must find ways to overcome these things yourself, so that you can think calmly and foresight, truly realize the "wisdom" in the "Five Virtues of Being a General", and achieve "quietness and tranquility" .
This is all Zhou Yu can say.
After all, as a general, even if he is just an ordinary general commanding a small army, if he does not have the ability to adjust himself and worries about gains and losses when facing responsibilities, then why should he let his soldiers believe in him and follow him to death? ? !
Not to mention a handsome man who commanded nearly 100,000 troops in battle.
Today, Lu Xun actually made the most basic mistake, a mistake that no ordinary general should make.
This mistake was so low-level that if Zhou Yu said it outright, it would basically deny Lu Xun's qualifications as a general.
Zhou Yu didn't have such low emotional intelligence, and what Lu Xun needed was not for Zhou Yu to tell him directly.
After a few hints, Lu Xun naturally understood.
After that, things will be simple.
Lu Xun solemnly saluted Zhou Yu with a face of shame, and then without wasting any time, he said goodbye and left Xiakou, diverting to Lujiang to make preparations for the war.
This is what Lu Xun should do most now.
(End of chapter)
