Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 769 Mental imbalance

Zhou Yu is now quite satisfied with his ambition. He captured Wancheng without a single blow, which means that his plan was completely expected.

At first, before sending troops to Jiangdong, Sun Quan had doubts about using troops against Yuan Xi's army at this time, because in fact Sun Quan was also afraid, because he had just taken power, and if he suffered a big defeat, it was likely to cause instability in Jiangdong.

At this time, Zhou Yu stood up and used his official position as a guarantee, saying that it would be impossible for Fierce Tiger to take care of Wankou at this time. If he did not occupy the area along the north of the Yangtze River and waited for Fierce Tiger to defeat Cao Cao and deploy defenses and train naval forces in Jiangbei, Jiangdong would never be able to turn around again. .

If this is the case, let alone dividing the world into two parts, we will not even be able to achieve peace of mind!

These words convinced Sun Quan and strengthened his confidence in conquering Lujiang River, so Zhou Yu personally led tens of thousands of naval troops to attack Wankou from Wu Commandery.

Sure enough, Jiangdong later received news that Fierce Tiger was confronting Cao Cao's army in Heishan and was unable to rescue him. Lu Xun in Shouchun did not send troops. Li Shu, the prefect of Lujiang, actually surrendered directly to the city.

The result of this bloodless battle was much better than what Zhou Yu had imagined, which would have taken at least half a month of siege and even several large-scale battles. The Jiangdong generals were pleasantly surprised and began to relax. stand up.

Many of them began to think that Xihu was really a fierce person and did not even have the courage to fight in the face of Jiangdong's absolute military power.

Of course, some people such as Lu Su believed that at this time, Fierce Tiger should focus on preventing Cao Cao from crossing the Huai River to threaten Shouchun, so he directly gave up defending Anhui City. Its strength was still there, so we must not be careless.

Cheng Pu, Handang and others disagreed with this. They believed that when they followed Sun Ce to attack Guangling, Fierce Tigers had a hard time defending the city under the offensive of Jiangdong generals. Now they are only one or two years apart. The Youzhou Army really has nothing to fear.

Although these words boosted the morale of Jiangdong generals, Lu Su and others were worried, saying that two years had not been short. Since the Youzhou Army could defeat Cao Cao, it showed that its strength should not be underestimated.

At that time, Zhou Yu was half drunk at the banquet. He patted Lu Su on the shoulder and laughed and said, "Zijing, you are good at everything, but you are too cautious."

"How strong can the same group of people become in one or two years?"

"And even if Xiuhu and Cao Cao have been back and forth, he hasn't been able to win against Cao Cao recently."

"I think those people in the Central Plains are bragging to each other, and our Jiangdong soldiers are not inferior to them!"

"Besides, I have rigorously trained the elite Danyang soldiers in the army, and their combat power has increased by leaps and bounds. I also purchased a lot of war horses. I want to see if the Youzhou cavalry is really that powerful!"

There was a fire burning in Zhou Yu's chest. He could be said to have exhausted all his plans in Jiangdong before. The only setback was when a fierce tiger stole Guangling, causing the Jiangdong defense line to become unstable. Every time Zhou Yu thought about it, he beat his chest and vowed to take revenge.

Now that Wancheng was taken back and Lujiang was regained, it not only frustrated the fierce tiger's arrogance, but also stabilized the Jiangbei defense line. Since then, the route to conquer Jingzhou has been opened. Thinking of this, Zhou Yu couldn't help but feel a little proud.

But Zhou Yu is not a blind and arrogant person. Although Li Shu surrendered and Shouchun Ye did not send troops, and he did not get a chance to confront Yuan Xijun, he still maintained the most basic vigilance and attention. On the one hand, he stepped up his attack on the cities near Lujiang River. On the one hand, they built city defenses and sent warships north to Wanshui River to attack Chaohu Lake.

However, because Yuan Xi still had a large naval force at the dock north of Chaohu Lake, Zhou Yu, after occupying and blocking the southern entrance of Chaohu Lake, sent a fleet to confront Yuan Xi's naval force, and at the same time sent more warships to form a larger number. of suppression.

Now it seems to Zhou Yu that Yuan Xi's navy has nowhere to go and has become a turtle in the urn. As long as his own fleet destroys it and then captures Hefei, Shouchun will be open to the attack of Jiangdong's army.

If Shouchun is captured again, it will mean that Jiangdong completely occupies the entire territory of Yangzhou. At that time, whether crossing the Huaihe River to Yuzhou or heading west to Jingzhou, Xuzhou will be able to advance and retreat freely. Moreover, Xuzhou will be attacked on several sides and will not be able to resist Jiangdong. The army will advance by land and water, and Jiangdong will soon occupy the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers.

As long as Fierce Tiger loses Xuzhou, his power in Jianghuai will be completely wiped out. Jiangdong will use this victory to capture Jingzhou and then plot Yizhou to complete Zhou Yu's grand plan of dividing the world.

The first step to take Lujiang went so smoothly, which made Zhou Yu feel happy. He even felt that within five years, all his wishes would be realized!

Of course, although Zhou Yu thought that the situation was good, he would not rush forward impatiently, so he took advantage of the repairs in Wancheng to spy on Yuan Xijun's movements.

The news that followed was mixed, both good and bad.

The good news is that Yuan Xi and Cao Cao are fighting, which means Jiang Dong made the right bet and the other party really can't get away!

The bad news is that Yuan Xi went south to raid Nanyang and defeated Cao Cao. This not only thwarted his plot to plot Jingzhou, but also showed the extraordinary combat power of the Youzhou army.

And there is news that Yuan Shu's army was also destroyed by the Youzhou army!

This made Zhou Yu alert. He saw that the Youzhou Army was different from the previous ruthlessness. It seemed that things were not as easy as he thought.

However, after careful analysis, Zhou Yu felt that as long as Yuan Xi's army was not stupid, the main force should now be used to march north to the Huai River, because Yuan Shang had already started a war with Cao Cao at this time, and the Jizhou army had crossed the Yellow River and began to march towards Guandu, threatening Xu County. Zhou Yu believes that at this time, no matter whether the fierce tiger maintains the reputation of benevolence and righteousness, or is dying, he should do his best to help Yuan Shang. After all, when Cao Jun threatened Ye City before, the fierce tiger rescued him with all his strength regardless of the loss, and did not take the opportunity to capture Ye City, which shows that he has no intention of seizing Ye City. Yuan is still very fond of it.

So in the next step, Yuan Xi will definitely lead his troops across the Huaihe River, go north from Yuzhou to Yanzhou, and attack Xu County with Yuan Shang from the north to the south. In this way, Shouchun will inevitably be empty, and an unprecedented opportunity for Jiangdong will come!

This was the opportunity that Zhou Yu was waiting for, so even though there was news that Fierce Tiger had led his troops to Shouchun, Zhou Yu did not panic at all. After all, once the Guandu war started, Yuan Xi would be the first to lose his temper.

Seeing that Lu Su still looked worried, he not only shook his head. In Zhou Yu's view, Zhang Zhao was biased towards Cao Cao, while Lu Su was too cautious and timid. In fact, neither of them was suitable to be in charge. The army does not agree with his own ideal of leading troops.

On the other hand, Lu Meng is young but quite studious. Although he has not conquered Xiakou in the past year, he has made great progress. In time, he may not be able to stand alone.

Moreover, there is no shortage of powerful generals in Jiangdong. As long as you give yourself three years, you can steadily expand the territory of Jiangdong and live up to Sun Ce's last wish!

Thinking of Sun Ce, Zhou Yu's eyes blurred, Bo Fu, you shouldn't have died so early. God is jealous of you, so I will go against the world and completely destroy this shabby Han Dynasty!

In Yanzhou, Yuan Shang has occupied Baima on the south bank of the Yellow River and set up his base camp here. He originally wanted to continue leading his troops south, but was persuaded by his advisers, saying that as the lord, he should not be in such danger.

Yuan Shang actually knew that the suggestions that these counselors agreed with were actually because they were afraid that something would happen to Yuan Shang and Jizhou would change hands.

Because these counselors offended Cao Cao and Yuan Xi at the same time, no matter which side takes Yecheng, he and the families behind them will not be able to get away with it.

Yuan Shang brought out almost all the generals and counselors in Jizhou this time, including Shenpei. However, the counselors who stayed behind in Yecheng were both unexpected and reasonable.

Yuan Shang handed over the important task of defending Yecheng to Tian Feng.

It's not that Tian Feng is not good, but that Tian Feng has a bad temper and has offended many people. What the defender needs is someone whose prestige can convince everyone and who is smooth and considerate.

Tian Feng was obviously not suitable. The only reason everyone could think of was that he opposed sending troops to attack Cao Cao at this time, saying that this was not a good time.

This obviously disobeyed Yuan Shang, so he was left to defend the city. In this way, no matter what military exploits he achieved by attacking Yanzhou, it had nothing to do with him.

Now Yuan Shang leads Xun Chen as the leader, Shen Pei as the supervisor, Xu You, Xinpi and others as counselors, Chunyu Qiong as the leader of the generals, Wen Chou, Zhang He, Gao Lan and others as generals, recruiting Zhu Ling, Jiang Qi, Zhou Xin, Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang and more than a dozen people were appointed as deputy generals, and it can be said that the entire army came out.

Under the offensive of the Jizhou soldiers who had been training for a winter, although Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan were holding the battle, the Jizhou soldiers resorted to the weapon of fortification warfare, piling up a large amount of logistical equipment and fighting a war of attrition with Cao Jun steadily.

As a result, Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan were helpless and were dragged into the whirlpool of confrontation.

This kind of fortification battle is extremely expensive. While both sides are consuming each other, their own baggage is also rapidly decreasing. It is like two opponents bleeding out to see who bleeds out first and falls.

But Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi had a private agreement that only two people knew about, but no one else knew about it.

This all-out attack on Guandu is actually just a cover.

The purpose is just to hang out dishonest people.

After all, Cao Cao is really difficult to kill in one go, and several of his allies, even forces that are not allies, are harassing and attacking from the sidelines, which is as annoying as flies.

Regardless of Jiangdong, Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Yuan Tan are the real targets this time!

Now the battle of Guandu is the largest scam. The purpose is to cut off Cao Cao's hands and feet before fighting Cao Cao decisively.

Of course, this strategy does not mean not to attack Guandu at all. On the contrary, if the opportunity is right, Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang will never let it go.

This is a strategy learned from Cao Cao. A feint will turn into an actual fatal blow at any time. What's more, this feint at this time is more like a real move!

Yuan Shang didn't tell anyone about this plan, because he was now confident enough to control the situation, and the previous events also made him understand that the counselors had their own ideas, and the only one he could rely on was Yuan himself.

Yuan Shang was right. Xu You, who was bowing his head at this time, was completely out of balance.

As one of the two people Yuan Shao temporarily entrusted with, it was just that he was not as good as Shen Pei. Why was Xun Chen still the mastermind? Now that he was similar to his brother Xin Pi, who worked for Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang looked down on him so much?

(End of this chapter)