Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 986 The situation changes
When Zhou Yu heard that Sun Quan wanted to send him to Jiangxia, he quickly stood up and said: "My lord has an order, and I must obey it. Let's assemble the troops and set off now."

After coming out of Sun Quan's house, Zhou Yu sighed. He could not figure out Sun Quan's thoughts now. In the past two years, the other party had become more and more emotionless, leaving Zhou Yu with no idea what Sun Quan was going to do.

Just like this time in the battle against Jiangxia, it was not that Zhou Yu had not asked for orders, but in the end the result was that the former army coach was Cheng Pu, with Lu Meng as his deputy, the rear army coach was Han Dang, and Huang Gai was his deputy. From the beginning to the end, there was nothing wrong with Zhou Yu. .

But the tone in Sun Quan's words just now hinted at blaming Zhou Yu for recuperating his illness and shifting blame. Zhou Yu couldn't tell the difference, so who could he ask to reason?
Moreover, Sun Quan asked himself to go over as the commander-in-chief of the rear army and join forces with Cheng Puhan. Who among the three would be the leader and who would be the auxiliary?
What made Zhou Yu even more irritated was that his favorite deputy was actually Lu Su, who Zhou Yu thought was the most suitable successor to him. However, he was sent by Sun Quan as an envoy to Shouchun and was inexplicably detained. What a thing!
Originally, Zhou Yu was extremely opposed to letting Lu Su deal with Fierce Tiger. He felt that his opponent's style of doing things was not like that of a member of aristocratic family. Instead, he behaved like a ruffian and a ranger. As expected, Lu Su was trapped in the trap without knowing why. Shouchun, and looking at it like this, the other party may not let him go in a short time!

Zhou Yu was worried about getting in the car and going home, but someone followed him and whispered: "My lord has summoned me, please ask the governor to return secretly through the back door."

Zhou Yu looked at the person who came and found that he was actually a close servant of Sun Quan. His heart was moved and he quickly followed him into the mansion through the back door to see Sun Quan.

On Shouchun's side, Lu Su was suppressing his anxiety and chatting with Yuan Xi in front of him.

He couldn't tell the pain now. He knew that even if he wanted to leave, the other party would probably not let him go, and it would be difficult for Lu Su to leave. Since Sun Quan was destined, he had to accomplish something at least before he had the dignity to go back. .

But Lu Su really couldn't keep up with Yuan Xi's conversational rhythm. Every time Yuan Xi came to talk to him, he didn't talk about topics related to Jiang Dong at all. Instead, he was more interested in Jiang Dong's private gossip and rumors. Lu Su Su brought the topic to Jiangdong several times, but Yuan Xi just turned a deaf ear and only inquired about topics that Lu Su thought were quite ridiculous.

Now Yuan Xi was inquiring about Sun Quan's family affairs. He said with great interest: "I heard that Marquis Sun. Oh no, Duke Wu is not married yet?"

"Oh?" Yuan Xi became interested, "I heard that Wu Gong's biological mother was widowed when she was young. It is not easy to raise Wu Gong to be a talented person. Has Zijing met her?"

What Yuan Xi wants to know is just Mrs. Wu's current situation.

"Wu Gong is now the lord of Jiangdong at a young age. He is really like Sun Zhongmou in having children."

He hurriedly said: "Mr. Wu's marriage is decided by his own mother. We, the servants, are not qualified to comment, and it should be decided soon."

Lu Su felt dizzy. Are you kidding yourself?

Lu Su thought to himself: Is this a compliment or a curse?

Yuan Xi sighed and said: "Mrs. Wu is really a woman, and it is not easy to raise such a good son like Mr. Wu."

Through insinuations about Lu Su in the past few days, Yuan Xi has actually roughly understood Mrs. Wu's situation. I am afraid that with Sun Quan's strong takeover of power, Mrs. Wu has been half helpless and half discouraged and has retreated behind the scenes, unable to do much. .

Lu Su cursed in his heart, what are you pretending to be, you fierce tiger? Wasn't Mrs. Wu caught by you before?
Do you dare to say that you have never seen her?
Why are you pretending to be innocent now?

He always felt strange in his heart. This tone should be that of an elder talking about a younger generation. After all, aren't you from the same generation as the lord?
Lu Su thought hard and couldn't figure out the true relationship between Yuan Xi and Mrs. Wu. Naturally, he didn't understand the purpose of Yuan Xi's question. Yuan Xi and Lu Su were talking nonsense, so they naturally didn't expect Lu Su to find out the military situation in Jiangdong. Lu Su was not a fool, so he still had basic precautions.

"I have a good candidate here. I just captured Cao Cao's daughter. Duke Wu might be interested. Would you like Mr. Zijing to write to ask?"

"It seems that Mr. Wu worked so hard and worried about Jiangdong, but he delayed personal matters."

He didn't understand Yuan Xi's intention, so he could only say at the moment: "Mrs. Wu has handed over all domestic and foreign affairs to Duke Wu, and lives in seclusion. We haven't seen each other for a long time."

This also means that Guo Jia's original idea of ​​using Mrs. Wu to disrupt Jiangdong basically failed. Yuan Xi sent Mrs. Wu to Jiangdong in vain, making it an irrelevant move.

However, Yuan Xi had no expectations for this. Human beings are not grass and trees, and no one can be ruthless. It was too much to ask Mrs. Wu to deal with her own son for the sake of an adulterer.

After all, Mrs. Wu was not a dead warrior, but just a noble woman with human feelings. Most of the reason why she was asked to return to Jiangdong was because Yuan Xi wanted her to see Sun Ce for the last time. Otherwise, it would be a lifelong regret for Mrs. Wu. After understanding Mrs. Wu's situation, Yuan Xi already knew something about it. Now Sun Quan's mentality is that he probably thinks that Yuan Xi will not break his face by becoming emperor in Jiangdong, so his next step will only be to further tighten Yuan Xi's power in Jianghuai.

Yuan Xi guessed that Sun Quan was ready to go to war with him. The opponent was frustrated in attacking Jiangxia and was blocked by Guan Yu at Lukou. However, by occupying Chaisang to Xiakou, he could be considered as occupying half of Jiangxia and could be considered as a firm stand in Jingzhou. Heel.

If Yuan Xi stood in Sun Quan's perspective, the next step should be to ensure the smooth flow of the Yangtze River waterway and stabilize his own territory. At this time, Yuan Xi, who occupied Lujiang County, had become the biggest threat to the Yangtze River waterway in the east of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, Yuan Xi felt that it was time for Sun Quan to do something, not to mention that Yuan Xi was confronting Cao Ju across the river in Yuzhou. At this time, if Jiangdong and Cao Cao agreed to march at the same time, it would be a great opportunity to annex Jianghuai!
Yuan Xi sneered in his heart, he was not afraid that Sun Quan would fight, but he was afraid that Sun Quan would not fight. What he was waiting for now was that Sun Quan couldn't help but take action first. He wanted to see what other tricks Sun Quan could pull off.

Sure enough, within a few days, news came that Sun Quan ordered Zhou Yu to send troops from Wu County, leading more than 10,000 naval troops, and marched along the Yangtze River towards Wankou. Moreover, in addition to the former army Lu Meng who was guarding Xiakou, the Chinese navy led by Han Dang had retreated 200 miles eastward and garrisoned at Chaisang.

This obviously does not want to fight Guan Yu, but the key point is that after the Jiangdong navy retreated to Chaisang, it is now stationed east of Wankou, which happens to be the connecting waterway between Chaohu and the Yangtze River. It is self-evident who they want to target.

Yuan Xi thought to himself that Sun Quan was getting angry, could he really dare to fall out with him first?
Isn't he afraid that he and Guan Yu will attack the Jiangxia navy?
As a result, a few days later, news from Jingzhou came, letting Yuan Xi understand that Jiang Dong and Cao Cao had probably reached a tacit understanding long ago.

Fancheng in Jingzhou was finally lost.

At this time, Yuan Xicai learned that it was Pang Tong who had replaced Guan Yu in guarding Fancheng. In the end, he failed to guard Fancheng, but it was not that he was incompetent, but that Cao Jun finally gathered a large fleet from Yizhou, and then sent it from Han Dynasty. The upper reaches of the water go straight down the river, directly to the foot of Xiangyang City.

Nanyang County and Xiangyang County in Jingzhou are divided by the Han River. Xiangyang is on the south bank of the Han River, and Fancheng is on the opposite north bank. Cao Jun's navy occupied the Han River and cut off the supply line from Xiangyang to Fancheng. Fancheng suddenly became an isolated city.

The arrival of Cao's army was much faster than Pang Tong expected. The reason for this was because the Jingzhou navy on the Han River dispersed with little resistance, and many even surrendered to Cao's army.

Although the main force of the Jingzhou Navy is in the Yangtze River, Liu Biao was still surprised that the Jingzhou Navy was so miserable in the Han River. However, the people in charge of the Jingzhou Navy were members of the Cai and Zhang families, and their commanders, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, were both in charge. With the peace faction, Liu Biao could only do nothing.

As soon as the upper reaches of the Han River were lost, Pang Tong knew that nothing could be done. He guessed that Cao Jun's navy would definitely cut off his retreat. If the rear of Fancheng was lost, it would not be able to resist Cao Jun, but would become his own side. Being dragged down, Pang Tong decisively abandoned Fancheng before Cao's army was about to arrive and retreated to Xiangyang. Cao's army took advantage of the situation and occupied Fancheng.

Once Fancheng was lost, the Han River channel to the north of Xiangyang was blocked, which meant that the Han River channel that Guan Yu had previously set out to build was unsafe, because Cao's army could go south from the Han River at any time to attack Lukou where Guan Yu's army was located. At the entrance, we will be attacked from two sides by Cao Jun and Jiangdong Army!
Once Fancheng was lost, the situation suddenly changed, which was extremely bad for Guan Yu's army. After a water battle with Jiangdong, Guan Yu's logistical equipment was already stretched thin. If he was attacked from both sides at this time, he would not have much chance of winning.

So Guan Yu decisively left his deputy Fu Shiren and most of his soldiers to guard Lukou. He led an army north by water to Baqiu Jiangling, and then by land to Maicheng, preparing to recruit soldiers and supplies between several cities, and finally went to The coast east of Xiangyang was fortified to block the passage of Cao's navy from the Han River southward, preventing it from attacking Lukou together with Jiangdong's army.

According to the news from Yuan Xi's insider, Cao Cao and Jiang Dong unanimously issued a request for peace talks and a truce to Liu Bei, promising that as long as Liu Bei gave up Xiangyang County between the Han River and the Yangtze River, he would be able to obtain the three southern counties of Jingzhou south of the Yangtze River in the future. .

This was obviously aimed at Liu Biao and Yuan Xi. When Yuan Xi fully understood the inside story, he understood what Cao Jun and Jiang Dong Jun wanted to do. From the beginning, Cao Cao and Jiang Dong had the idea of ​​dividing the world equally, especially now that most of them Some of the actions are directed at him, which shows that Jiangdong is afraid that he will take action against him soon!

Yuan Xi sneered in his heart. From Sun Quan's perspective, Yuan Xi's current troops in Jianghuai were indeed stretched thin. What's more, Cao Jun and Jiangdong County still had a few secret hands, so they looked like they were sure of victory.

But Yuan Xi's confidence lies in the fact that he can still guess some of these hidden plots.

In this case, I will accompany you to put on a show on the stage, and it may be the most gorgeous show that has happened on the Jianghuai battlefield in this era. Although the actors involved are not fully prepared, including Yuan Xi himself .

Therefore, there are still many variables in this scene, and Yuan Xi does not dare to be careless. What he is worried about now is that Liu Bei's situation is not much better than his own. Whether he will accept the peace talks between Cao Cao and Sun Quan will determine whether his situation will be better. It will get worse.

At the same time, in Xiangyang City, Liu Bei held two letters in his hand that wanted peace talks, and said to Zhang Fei: "Cao Cao and Sun Quan are asking for peace talks with me now?"

(End of this chapter)