The State of Wu and the State of Wei successively had the heavy weapons of the State of Jing to defeat the city and the heavy crossbows. Liu Bei of the State of Chu certainly did not want to fall behind. The power of the Kecheng Heavy Crossbow is obvious to all. Whoever possesses this weapon on the battlefield will have the conditions to dominate the battlefield.
When the State of Wu launched an attack on Qingzhou, Liu Bei accepted Cao Pi's request and immediately sent Zhao Yun and Chen Gong to lead 50,000 troops out of Jiangxia. The troops were divided into two groups, going down the waterway and overland to attack Chai in Yuzhang County. Sang and Xunyang are two cities.
Zhou Yu led his army to Jiujiang and fought against the Chu army.
Chen Gong came up with a strange plan. Xunyang and Chai Sang's troops and horses were all lures to attract the enemy, attracting Zhou Yu's attention. The main force bypassed Fu Yishan and attacked Liling unexpectedly. Liling was not well-defended and was instantly breached. Liling was broken, and Zhou Yu was in danger of being attacked from three sides, so he had to retreat to the mouth of the lake on the other side of Pengze Lake to confront the Chu army.
Zhou Yu retreated, and Xunyang, Chaisang and other places were all occupied by the Chu army.
The two sides began to confront each other at Pengze Lake.
Chu's national strength was not as strong as Wu's, and it was bordered by Jingguo, so it did not dare to fight a protracted war and sought a way to defeat Wu quickly. After hearing that Jingguo had sold Kecheng heavy crossbows, they agreed to purchase thirty Kecheng heavy crossbows from Jingguo. Crossbows were mobilized to assist the battle at Pengze Lake.
After Kecheng's heavy crossbows joined the battle, Zhou Yu was unable to resist and Hukou fell.
Zhou Yu then retreated to Pengze City to hold on, and at the same time asked Kecheng for heavy crossbow support.
Sun Ce ordered the Qingzhou front line to mobilize ten Kecheng heavy crossbows to maintain the combat power gap between Wu and Chu.
Starting from July 207 AD and lasting until March 208 AD, the battle was in an anxious state. Jingguo continued to sell weapons to the three countries. The three countries spent a lot of money, but the battle could not end.
The battle in Yuzhang still calmed down a bit. After all, there was no critical relationship. Liu Bei did not want to increase investment and consume his own strength, so he chose a truce and confrontation instead of taking the initiative to attack.
Qingzhou is different.
Regarding the future path of Wu State and the fate of Cao Wei, both sides have invested a lot of military and financial resources. Without the chance to shake hands and make peace, Qingzhou must have a loser and a winner.
…
Chang'an.
The monarchs and ministers of Jingguo were sitting in the palace, discussing the next layout of the country.
Under Jingguo's behind-the-scenes operation, the battle in Qingzhou changed from one-sided at the beginning to a tense one now. The strength gap between the two sides has changed dramatically with the intervention of Jingguo's equipment.
But both Wu and Wei paid a huge price for the battle in Qingzhou.
In the early spring of this year, in order to quickly end the war in Qingzhou, Sun Ce purchased 20,000 war horses from Jingguo in advance to prepare for the formation of cavalry. This news was learned by Wei Guoyin's guards, who intercepted the cavalry on the way to Wu. The horses suffered serious losses and were sent to Lusu. When he was in his hands, only more than 8,000 of the 20,000 horses were left.
Of course, if Wei Guo could get this news, it is hard to say whether Jing Guo interfered with it.
As the battle between Wei and Wu continued to consume, Zhang Xiu was ready to take action. As the saying goes: I will kill you while you are weak. Now is the period of weakness of Wei and Wu. The two countries have consumed a lot of money for the sovereignty of Qingzhou. Wei has already been defeated. Wu is fighting on two fronts, and its consumption is much greater than that of Wei.
Jingguo is still in a stage of rapid development. It needs to maintain domestic stability and is not a good opportunity to start a war. But the battle in Qingzhou aroused the hearts of the monarchs and ministers of Jingguo.
If there is a sudden attack at this time, and troops are sent from Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Yuzhou, it is very likely to destroy the Wei State, repel the Wu State in Xuzhou, and occupy the Central Plains.
But he was also afraid of dragging Jingguo into the quagmire of fighting and being unable to get out. Battles are unpredictable. Just because Jingguo is powerful does not mean that it is 100% possible for a quick victory. There are many examples of big countries being dragged down by small countries.
Bo Tu also used all his strength, Zhang Xiu did not dare to be careless and underestimate the enemy.
Regardless of what Wei Guozhong did, the foundation laid by Cao Cao back then was still very solid, and there were many people who vowed to live and die with Cao Wei. If Wei Guo risked his life and dragged Jing Guo down, it would be more gain than loss.
Similarly, Wu Guo is not a soft persimmon.
For Jingguo, now is definitely not the time to start a war.
"Your Majesty, the battle of Qingzhou will not have a result in a short time," Jia Xu analyzed. "Sun Tzu said: 'The first step is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the third is to attack the city.' Qingzhou is related to the peace of Wu State. Wei's vital interests require them to do their best, so we don't have to get involved. It won't be too late to send troops when the time is right."
Li Ru: "What Prime Minister Jia said is absolutely true. Our country is in a period of rapid development, and the people are in urgent need of peace. We hope that the emperor and the people will change, and there must be no trade war."
"emperor!"
Liu Ye spoke calmly: "Right now, the four countries in the world, Wu, Chu, and Wei, are all in the midst of a bitter war. Only I, Dajing, are at peace, seeking economic development, accumulating strength to strengthen the country, and benefiting the people. The great prospects of developing the economy in this way, We don’t need to be affected by the war in the Central Plains, we can maintain the previous strategy and let Wei and Wu fight a continuous war of attrition.”
"I dare to say that if this war takes another year, it will definitely bring down the Wei State and the Wu State. When the time comes, we will send out all our troops to sweep across the Central Plains, just like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. The Central Plains can be conquered without any effort. "
Zhang Xiu nodded.
Cannons, flintlock guns, and sea-going ships are still being intensively developed. Without the support of these firearms, Jingguo would not have an absolutely overwhelming advantage over Wei and Wu. The results of sending troops now are unpredictable.
"Increase the research and development funds for sea ships and firearms, and speed up research and development." Zhang Xiu gave the order after serious consideration, "Order Zhang Xian, Zhang He, and Zhang Ren to lead troops to station troops on the north bank of the Yellow River and pay close attention to the war in Qingzhou."
Qin Mi, the Minister of Rites, said: "Please tell me from your Majesty: The State of Wei wants to purchase 500,000 stones of grain and 50,000 sets of equipment from our country. Is it okay?"
March is the lean season.
The war consumed a huge amount of food. People ate horse chews, plus the cost of transportation. The Wu State was better off. No war broke out in the mainland, the output was stable, and the supply of grain and grass was fully guaranteed. Wei State's grain and grass were already in crisis, and they had to So I asked Jingguo for help.
Zhang Xiu looked at Yi Ji, the Minister of Household Affairs: "Uncle Ji, do you have enough grain and grass to sell to Wei? What I mean is, if a war suddenly breaks out this year, will there be enough grain and grass?"
Yi Ji smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, there will definitely be enough food and grass."
With the support of the Tianfu Kingdom in Yizhou and the Northern Granary in Jizhou, Jingguo was very rich in grain and grass. Coupled with the increasing prosperity of commerce, roads and canals were opened in various parts of the country, and grain production increased rapidly.
Zhang Xiu nodded with satisfaction: "Very good. Since there is enough food and grass, let's buy a Wei State and let them fight as much as they can!"
