While Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were arguing fiercely in Luoyang about the timing and location of moving the capital, Zhang Xi had already marched to Nanyang with his good apprentice Deng Ai.
Zhang Xi knew that if he stayed in Luoyang, he would definitely have a lot of troubles to deal with. And with Zhang Xi's political status, he would inevitably be dragged into meetings by Zhuge Liang. With Zhang Xi's political IQ, there was a high probability that he would only Say something like "That's right," or "You're right."
Everyone's idea makes sense, but Zhang Xi is in a state of numbness if he is allowed to make his own decision.
Simply, in order to avoid this situation, Zhang Xi should lead his troops back to Jingzhou to aid.
After all, Zhang Xi is a Jingzhou herdsman.
Of course, it was just a matter of course to take a walk around Yingchuan, recover a Xiangcheng, and let Zhang Yi lead 6,000 troops to garrison Xiangcheng, and then take Wang Ping back to Nanyang.
After the Northern Expedition, Wang Ping would inevitably have to be promoted again, but at this time, things in Luoyang were undecided, and Zhang Xi might need to use leading generals when he went south to use troops, so he took Wang Ping with him.
As for Deng Ai, this guy is the governor of Nanyang. If he can't stay in Nanyang properly, where does he want to go? !
He led his troops back to Nanyang, picked up Xu Shu and Xiao Yang Hu who were stationed here, and Zhang Xi led his troops south again to Xiangyang.
Before arriving in Xiangyang, Zhang Xi received a battle report from Wang Ji - Soochow troops had withdrawn.
It was not that one or two fronts retreated due to unfavorable battles, but all three fronts retreated together, obviously intending to end the war.
This is good news. At least Zhang Xi doesn't have to worry about Jiangling really having problems.
But there is also bad news. Before Soochow retreated, it robbed all the population, money, food and wealth of the four southeastern counties of Jiangling County.
Zhang Xi's face immediately darkened at that time.
After all, Soochow is still the Soochow who likes to take advantage of the situation. Even if it cannot be defeated, it will still do such immoral things of plundering the population as long as there is an opportunity.
But what can be done.
When Jiangling adopts the strategy of shrinking his troops and focusing on defense, it means that he may pay this price at any time.
If we really want to break it down, it would have to be Zhang Xi, Wang Ji and others who abandoned the people for the sake of strategy. It was not the people who actively chose to abandon the big man.
Moreover, in these days, after years of war, population is the greatest wealth. In history, even Zhuge Liang has done this kind of thing of coercing Dingkou to migrate, let alone his Dongwu Sun 100,000.
It's just a pain for these people who have to leave their hometowns and resettle their families and businesses in unfamiliar places.
Zhang Xi was indeed angry, but not because Soochow was so shameless. He was just angry that he had failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a Jingzhou pastor and failed to take good care of the people under his rule.
If you want to blame, you can only blame your own incompetence.
Zhang Xi was in a bad mood. He was so frightened that Xiao Yang Hu did not dare to speak until he led his troops to Jiangling. Zhang Xi separated from Xu Shu and led his troops south again.
When Xu Shu returned to Jingzhou, he definitely wanted to assist Wenpin in garrisoning Xiangyang. After all, at this time, Wenpin was still staying at Hanjin Ferry to guard against the Soochow Navy coming up the Han River again. Xiangyang could only be garrisoned by Ma Liang, and both the military and the government needed Ma Liang. To be responsible, the pressure is indeed a bit greater.
Zhang Xi originally wanted to entrust Xiao Yanghu to Xu Shu, but Xu Shu declined.
This is your apprentice, not mine.
If you, Zhang Xi, are leading troops on an expedition, then it doesn't matter if I help you look after your apprentices and teach you some key points in the art of war. But now that you have led troops back, you can teach your own apprentices.
In this way, Zhang Xi returned to Jiangling with his young apprentice and Wang Ping.
As soon as he returned to Jiangling, Zhang Xi found Wang Ji to learn about the battle situation some time ago.
Wang Ji naturally spoke eloquently.
But actually, not much can be said.
Zhou Yu's rapid advance of troops to capture the four counties southeast of Jiangling was originally a strategy agreed in advance to shrink his troops and focus on defense. Therefore, although Zhou Yu's advance of troops was rapid and the results were not small, Jiangling's losses were not large.
And as Zhou Yu stationed troops in Huarong and was replaced by Sun Sheng due to illness, the rest became simpler.
Under Sun Quan's strict order, Sun Sheng launched a strong attack on Ying County, but the problem was that Zhou Tai, who had received reinforcements, could defend Ying County with ease.
Yes, Zhou Tai's ability may not be as good as Shi Bao, but when his opponent is Sun Sheng, and he has the advantage of city defense, Sun Sheng is really no match for Zhou Tai.
Sun Sheng led his troops to attack four or five times, but still could not shake Zhou Tai's defense in Ying County. Sun Sheng was really anxious.
If he could not capture Ying County, he would not be able to achieve the supreme will, and Sun Sheng would not dare to retreat. After all, he was valued by Sun Quan. In addition to his own ability to lead troops, obedience was the most important reason.
But Sun Sheng was a qualified general after all, and he knew that such a strong attack would not produce better results besides increasing his own casualties.
In addition, the current weather conditions are not cooperative. Cloudy and rainy days appear every three days. In the one month of attacking Ying County, Sun Sheng has only seen three sunny days in total. The rest of the time is either cloudy or rainy if the attack continues like this. , there might be a plague in the army.
Just when Sun Sheng was in a dilemma, Sun Quan's edict arrived.
Sun Quan asked Sun Sheng to retreat at an opportunity, plunder Dingkou of the four counties, and retreat to Jiangdong.
As Sun Sheng withdrew his troops, Zhu Ran also began to withdraw his troops and return to Lukou. Lu Dai, who was struggling to conquer the enemy in Lingyang, also withdrew his troops back to Wuling County in about the same time. The Jiangling War ended there.
After listening to Wang Ji's story, Zhang Xi understood the general process and carefully calculated the time for Soochow's withdrawal. Zhang Xi probably guessed what Sun Quan was thinking.
Sun Sheng's retreat was in early February. At that time, Zhang Xi was leading his troops southward and into the northern part of Yingchuan County. But by this time, the news that the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Han Dynasty had captured Luoyang should have spread to Jiangdong.
Now that the Han Dynasty has captured Luoyang, it will inevitably choose to return to rescue Jingzhou. Sun Quan continues to struggle with the Jiangling defenders in Jiangling, and is likely to fall into a bad battle.
In addition, after sending troops this time, the weather was very unfavorable to the Soochow army. In this case, Sun Quan could only choose to accept it as soon as possible.
Sun Quan's ability to personally lead troops was poor, but his judgment of the world's situation was still very accurate.
This is Zhang Xi's judgment on the withdrawal of troops from Soochow.
Of course, there are some things Zhang Xi doesn't know.
For example, Sun Quan actually did not want to withdraw his troops so quickly. It was Zhou Yu who persuaded Sun Quan despite his illness and told him to continue fighting. The hope of capturing Jiangling was very slim. Not to mention, once a plague broke out in the army, then the cost of sending troops this time would be , but it’s too big.
Another one. Now that the Shu Han has captured Luoyang, although the troops have stopped, the focus of Cao Wei's defense must still be on Luoyang.
If we don't take action before Cao Wei's reinforcements from Hebei arrive, then we really won't get any benefit at all this time.
Therefore, Zhou Yu persuaded Sun Quan to withdraw his troops on the southern front and let Lu Xun take the initiative on the northern front to capture Pengcheng Kingdom, which he had never occupied.
At this time, Cao Wei will not turn against Soochow because of the half-abandoned Pengcheng Kingdom. And by occupying this Pengcheng Kingdom, we have mastered the channel to attack Yanzhou, which will be of great benefit to the future use of troops. of.
Sun Quan was somewhat persuaded by Zhou Yu, but he still couldn't make up his mind.
What really made him decide to withdraw troops on the southern front were two letters.
One is Sun Sheng's battle report.
In the battle report, Sun Sheng apologized to Sun Quan for failing to capture Ying County.
But at the same time, Sun Sheng also reported to Sun Quan that more and more soldiers in the army were suffering from typhoid fever recently.
The other letter was sent by Lu Xun from Huainan, saying that now that Jia Kui, the governor of Yanzhou, was leading troops to support Xuchang, Yanzhou was leaderless, and whether he should be allowed to use his discretion to march in the direction of Yanzhou and at least capture the previously unoccupied Pengcheng Kingdom.
Sun Sheng's attack was unfavorable. In addition to being angry, Sun Quan also had to consider what Sun Sheng said in his letter that "there are many diseases in the army."
Sun Sheng wrote such a letter to Sun Quan, not only to apologize, but Sun Quan also understood the real intention. It was to ask Sun Quan tactfully whether he wanted to risk the possibility of causing a plague and continue the attack.
Once a plague occurs, given the medical conditions of this era, the death toll caused by the plague may be greater than that of a city siege.
Sun Sheng did not have as much autonomy as Zhou Yu, so he could only hint to Sun Quan in this euphemistic way. Of course, if Sun Quan really wanted to attack Ying County desperately, then Sun Sheng would also implement it seriously.
It's hard to say whether we will fight or not in Xiaying County, but we will definitely not retreat if we retreat.
But your frontline generals have reached this point, and Sun Quan can understand Sun Sheng's intentions. No matter how indifferent Sun Shiwan is, he will not risk the outbreak of plague in his army and continue to attack.
Those who died then would all be soldiers under his command, Sun Quan.
As for Lu Xun's request for war, Sun Quan had to think more about it. Since Shu Han could not get any benefits, it would not be impossible to make up for it from Cao Wei.
After all, Pengcheng State was also a feudal state, no less than a county in size.
I didn't take it before, but I was worried about irritating Cao Wei and affecting the relationship between the two countries. Now the threat of Shu Han is getting bigger and bigger. If the Wei and Wu families are at odds again, Shu Han will only reap the benefits.
But now, Cao Wei is busy guarding Yanzhou, and Jia Kui has already gone to Xuchang. Just like Zhou Yu said, even if he takes Pengcheng Kingdom, it is estimated that Cao Wei will bear this tone for the sake of balancing the world situation.
Just follow the law.
(End of chapter)
