Deng Zhi's mission was not completed, but fortunately, he also succeeded in preventing Jiang Ji's mission from being completed.
Although the most critical factor here is that Sun Quan was not satisfied with the conditions proposed by Cao Wei, so he temporarily shelved the negotiations with Cao Wei.
According to what Deng Zhi learned, Cao Wei hoped that the Soochow Army would withdraw from Runan. In exchange, Cao Wei could hand over Pengcheng State to Soochow and the two families would stop fighting and reconcile.
But Sun Quan was not satisfied with this condition.
More than half of Runan County is already in his hands, and most of the Wei army in Pengcheng State has withdrawn into Yanzhou. Sun Quan could attack Pengcheng State at any time, but he did not take further action to avoid irritating Cao Wei.
Now Cao Wei wants to exchange an undefended area for the important land of Runan County. Of course, Sun Quan does not agree. He wants both.
It has to be said that Sun Quan is indeed a little distracted now, and he does not want to think about whether Cao Wei can defend these places with the land warfare capabilities of the Soochow Army once they regain their composure.
Anyway, it was impossible for Jiang Ji to agree to such a thing, and Cao Rui, who had no reason to go on a mission just to deliver territory, probably couldn't agree either.
You can get some benefits back in exchange, but giving it to Cao Rui for nothing will only make Cao Rui more embarrassed.
In this way, the Wei and Wu families who also couldn't talk about it together, plus a Han envoy Deng Zhi and Jiang Ji who were causing trouble, finally decided to return to Yanzhou first and wait for Cao Rui to make a decision before considering the issue of the next envoy.
It was also under such circumstances that Deng Zhi also said goodbye to Sun Quan, and wanted to come back quickly to inform the court of the results of his mission to Jiangdong, and at the same time prepare the Han court to respond.
We can't just watch the Wei and Wu families form an alliance.
After listening to Deng Zhi's description, Zhang Xi also began to think seriously about what kind of countermeasures Jingzhou should take.
Judging from the results of Deng Zhi's mission, Soochow was not ready to completely fall out with the Han Dynasty. Although it did not admit its mistakes, it also did not use too harsh words, and there was no change in the confrontation between the two armies. .
In other words, there is a high probability that this matter will be settled.
Maintaining the current situation is what Soochow hopes to see. After all, Soochow may not have the will or the ability to fight again.
But from Jingzhou's perspective, should we just maintain a tacit understanding and maintain the status quo? !
Zhang Xi thought about it carefully and seemed to find that besides maintaining the status quo, there seemed to be no better choice.
The four counties in Jingnan are actually not difficult to fight. If they really want to fight, a full-scale attack may be difficult, but if they want to take back Wuling and Lingling counties, it is not impossible for Zhang Xi.
Just gradually eat away at it.
But the problem is that once troops are used against the four counties in Jingnan, a large amount of manpower and material resources will be invested in Jingnan, and this investment of manpower and material resources is not just to sustain a battle, it may take longer.
One year, two years, or even three to five years are possible.
Soochow will not give up the four counties of Jingnan so easily. The significance of the four counties of Jingnan is not only a matter of face for the Emperor of Soochow. Jingnan has also invested too much money, food and efforts of the Jiangdong family, and it is beginning to take shape. The Poyang Lake Plain is not something that the Jiangdong families can give up easily.
The use of troops against Jingnan is likely to fall into a protracted tug-of-war, leaving Jingzhou with no spare energy to do other things, such as coordinating the Northern Expedition launched by Zhuge Liang.
As for Jiangxia County, it is connected to Xiangyang and Jiangling by land and water, so it can use troops.
But the problem is that Jiangxia is guarded by Zhou Yu. As long as this old fox is in Jiangxia for a day, Zhang Xi really does not dare to use troops against Jiangxia without complete assurance. Even if he uses his military superiority to push Zhou Yu to the limit, he will fight back. of ability.
This is not Zhang Xi's exaggeration. After all, Cao Cao's 200,000-strong army was counterattacked by Zhou Yu with 20,000 men. It cannot be overestimated.
The risk of failure in using troops against Jiangxia is too great, and even if they can win, the final result of a tragic victory is not what Jingzhou wants now.
To a certain extent, fighting Jiangxia is much more difficult than fighting the four counties in Jingnan.
Moreover, considering the current general trend of the world, it is not the best choice for Jingzhou to go to war with Jiangdong.
Zhang Xi's views on the world situation are consistent with Zhuge Liang's. The current enemy is still Cao Wei. Only after Cao Wei is completely driven out of the Central Plains can he focus his main energy on dealing with Soochow.
If there was a war with Soochow now, Sima Yi in Luoyang would probably be able to smile so hard that his molar teeth could be seen. He would not have to hold back his energy and desperately develop armaments.
After these thoughts, Zhang Xi felt that maintaining the status quo now might not be a bad thing.
It’s just that I don’t know how long this status quo can last.
After Deng Zhi completed his mission, he immediately returned to Chengdu, and Zhang Xi also began to prepare for the future war.
Among other things, the reconstruction of Jiangling Navy must be put on the agenda.
The situation with Soochow is tense now. The naval forces and warships transferred to Xiangyang will not be able to come back for a while. How could that old fox Zhou Yu let these naval forces return to Jiangling to enhance the combat power of Jiangling navy? .
Therefore, the only option is to rebuild warships in Jiangling and train naval forces.
Fortunately, the Jiangling Dockyard is still ready, so there is no need to spend any effort to rebuild it. Just building a warship is a big expense, not only involving money and food, but also requiring sufficient manpower.
Therefore, Zhang Xi did not hesitate to violate taboos and launched corvee service in the winter, recruiting civilians to serve.
Of course, Zhang Xi still had some conscience. He still persuaded Wang Ji and used the government's disaster preparedness materials to prepare thick clothes and charcoal fires for the civilians serving in the army to ensure their warmth.
Another thing, this winter, Zhang Xi lived directly near the dock and supervised the construction of warships on the spot.
It's not that he's worried about the progress of warship construction, Zhang Xi is mainly worried that the thick clothes and charcoal fire he distributes to the people will be corrupted by some shameless things. It's better to keep an eye on the spot than to be a hands-off shopkeeper.
In this way, after two months of hard work, at the end of the corvee, more than thirty ships and half a ship were built to rush to the battlefield.
The reason why it is half a ship is, on the one hand, because the construction period is limited and only so many can be built, and on the other hand, it is Zhang Xi's intention.
This half of the Mengchong warship was only built up to the deck, and all the offensive and defensive facilities on the ship were not built, because this Mengchong warship will be equipped with a counterweight trebuchet in the future.
The effect of the last water battle was really good. Zhang Xi felt that if he had five such Mengchong warships and cooperated with two or three hundred Zuke to fight, he would really have the confidence to directly block the entire longitudinal river.
Although the offensive ability is seriously insufficient and cannot directly threaten the Soochow Navy, the defensive ability is at least full.
When there is another opportunity to attack the four counties in Jingnan in the future, Zhang Xi will not have to worry about logistical supply problems by using this strategy.
Therefore, the main job of the shipyard now is to satisfy Zhang Xi's vision and complete the construction of these strange Mengchong warships as much as possible.
As for the navy drills, Zhang Xi has always been concerned about it, but the problem is that Zhang Xi really doesn't understand the navy.
This person who does not understand the naval force not only has a partial understanding of the naval combat command, but more importantly, Zhang Xi really does not know how to drill the navy.
Not to mention Zhang Xi's incompetence, there is only Wenpin among the serious naval generals in Jingzhou.
Zhang Xi shamelessly approached Wenpin, hoping that he could teach him some naval training methods.
But the problem is that in this era, whether it is the navy or the army, generals who have an effective training method can be called famous generals, and this kind of military training method is generally passed down as a family heirloom. It is not easily passed on to others.
Therefore, Wenpin completely ignored Zhang Xi's request, and it was impossible to teach naval warfare tactics.
However, Wenpin still sent his eldest son Wendai to Jiangling to help Zhang Xi train his navy.
He couldn't teach it to Zhang Xi, but he sent his eldest son to help with the training. The favor was not small. Zhang Xi appointed Wen Dai as the Captain of the Lou Ship School on the spot, taking full charge of the Jiangling navy's training.
After all, they are old acquaintances. Zhang Xi and Wen Dai also had friendship in their early years.
Well, the problem of navy drills has been temporarily alleviated, but the problem of the navy's leading generals is still unresolved.
Wenpin sent Wen Dai to assist Zhang Xi in training the naval force. It was really just to help Zhang Xi solve an urgent problem. Wenpin really had no intention of letting his eldest son Wen Dai command the Jiangling navy.
It's not that Wenpin doesn't want to support his son, it's mainly because Wendai's ability is really average.
Both Wenpin and Wendai themselves told Zhang Ximing that Wendai's talent for water warfare was limited and his experience in water warfare was even less, and he was probably not qualified to hold the position of commander-in-chief of an army.
Wenpin is a general who is capable of both land and water. He can exert his greatest power in Jingzhou, but once he leaves Jingzhou, he has access to both land and water. This actually means that he is not at the top level in both water and land warfare.
As Wenpin's eldest son, Wendai naturally inherited Wenpin's set of tactics, but his talent level is not as good as Wenpin's. Although he knows a little bit about land and water warfare, his father can do both land and water. I don't even have the level, I can only say that I have a slight understanding of it.
This "slight understanding" is not the "slight understanding" of Zhuge Liang in movies and TV series. Zhuge Liang's one is self-effacing, while Wen Dai's one really only knows a little.
Such a person, if he rashly leads the army into battle and is incompetent, will not only ruin the entire army, but he himself will not survive.
Moreover, water warfare is different from land warfare. In land warfare, relying on the speed of the horse and fighting to the death with the guards around him, the general may still be able to escape.
But in water battles, as long as the warship is surrounded by people, it must either surrender or die in battle, and there is no option to escape.
Therefore, in order not to destroy the army in vain, and to save his son's life, Wenpin told Zhang Xi very bluntly that Wen Dai should not be used as a general.
Therefore, Zhang Xi has to find a way to solve the problem of navy commander.
(End of chapter)
