Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 108 Misfortunes Never Come Alone
Yuzhang, Jiangdong Military Camp.

In the tent, Sun Quan looked anxious and said: "Gong Jin, Gui Lan, and Dai Yuan have conspired against each other and killed Bo Hai and Shu Bi. They have the potential to shake the foundation of our Sun family. If they collude with Liu Bei, I’m afraid the consequences will be disastrous.”

"Huang She also led Jingzhou's reinforcements to station troops in Xisai Mountain, with the intention of flanking our army with Liu Bei. The current situation is difficult, and our army also withdrew its troops early that day to quell the civil strife."

Zhou Yu stood up to appease Sun Quan and said, "My subordinates, don't be anxious. It is very convenient for our army to leave by boat. However, if Liu Bei withdraws now, there will be no one to restrain Liu Bei's army, and he is afraid that he will attack Shexian, Yixian and Lingyang in the east." Wait for the counties in Yishan; or go south to attack the brothers Sun Yuzhang and Sun Luling."

"My subordinates will be patient. If Zijing can persuade Peng Hu to rebel, he can suppress Jingzhou's troops in Yuzhang and make Liu Bei unable to escape, so he can spy on our counties in Yishan, and it can also reduce the pressure on Sun Yuzhang and his two brothers."

Huo Jun's guess was correct. Sun Quan and others did receive news of the rebellion of Gui Lan and Dai Yuan earlier than Huo Jun and others.

At that time, Sun Quan learned that there was a rebellion in his hometown and that two of his relatives, Sun Yi and Sun He, had died. He was in a panic and wanted to withdraw his troops immediately and return to resolve the rebellion in Danyang.Zhou Yu stopped Sun Quan's panic move and told Sun Quan that it was not difficult to withdraw the troops, but the difficulty was how to resolve the situation in Yuzhang and Danyang after the withdrawal.

Without the control of the army, Liu Bei's troops could move eastward or south with their hands free, thereby stabilizing the situation in Yuzhang.In this way, after Sun Quan handles the Danyang rebellion, he will face a more powerful Jingzhou army.It's so difficult to deal with him now, let alone Liu Bei who has grown in strength.

Therefore, Zhou Yu proposed that Peng Hu, a water thief who was entrenched in Poyang Lake, be appointed as the governor of Poyang, and that water robbers from all walks of life be appointed as generals, so that they could rebel and attack counties and villages.The Jingzhou army was restrained in Yuzhang County, unable to invade the Yishan counties eastward, buying time for them to put down the Danyang rebellion.

Sun Quan adopted Zhou Yu's advice and sent Lu Su as an envoy to the Poyang thief Peng Hu, and designated the western part of Yuzhang County as Poyang County, representing him as the governor of Poyang County.

However, Lu Su went there for several days and no news came back.In addition, the Jingzhou reinforcements led by Huang She also arrived at Saishan in Nanxi, threatening the flanks of the army. This made Sun Quan lose his temper and began to worry about the situation in Danyang.

"Can Zijing tell you when he can return to the camp?" Sun Quan asked.

Zhou Yu appeased Sun Quan and sat down, saying: "My subordinates, according to what Zijing's retinue said, Zijing will be able to return to the camp as early as today, and as late as tomorrow."

Listening to Zhou Yu's advice, Sun Quan had to force himself to calm down again.Comfort yourself, although Sun Yi and Sun He are dead, there are still generals such as Zhu Zhi and Lu Fan in the county, so the situation will not worsen.

After another hour, the attendant walked in from outside the tent and announced: "My subordinates, Mr. Lu has returned from duty and is waiting outside the camp."

Hearing this, Sun Quan was overjoyed and said, "I personally went out to greet him."

With that said, Sun Quan strode out of the tent, met the haggard-looking Lu Su, shook hands and said, "Thank you for your hard work, I wonder how the mission is going?"

"I've met my subordinates!"

Lu Su cheered up and said with a smile: "The current situation in Yuzhang is turbulent. Peng Hu has tens of thousands of men and women in his hands, and he has been rebelling for a long time. He is afraid that the Jingzhou navy is strong and has no one to help him, so he dare not rebel." On the order of his subordinates, I went to his water village and was well received."

"Now that Huang Zu has died and the Jingzhou Navy has been destroyed, and his subordinates are coming to help him, showing that he is the governor, Peng Hu is fearless and is willing to take the post of the governor of Poyang. He will lead his men across Pengli Ze to serve for his subordinates and raid the surrounding areas of Daze. Counties and townships share the worries and pressures of our army."

"it is good!"

Sun Quan beamed with joy and said: "Peng Hu has been ready to make a move for a long time. Not long after Gu Nian took the throne in the past, he wanted to put stability first and did not want to use troops, but he didn't expect that he would be useful here today. (Note [-])"

Peng Hu was originally a merchant. Due to frequent wars and capital losses, he was afraid of being chased for debts when he returned to his hometown, so he started a business of killing people and robbing wealth in Poyang Lake.

During the war, the governors of Yuzhang were replaced quickly, and the people suffered from the war and military service. They hid in Poyang Lake one after another, thinking to avoid military service and taxes.Peng Hu took the opportunity to recruit those people into his gang and became the nominal overlord of Poyang Lake, with tens of thousands of men and women in his hands.

"Zijing, do you know when Peng Hu will raise his army?" Sun Quan asked.

Lu Su cupped his hands and replied: "Qi Chu, when Su returned to camp, Peng Hu said that he would raise troops to capture Poyang County tomorrow and make it the county seat." Sun Quan turned to look at Zhou Yu and asked: "Gong Jin, the battle in Danyang is urgent, Peng Hu To restrain the Jingzhou army for our army. Without further ado, Gu immediately orders the whole army to pack up the camp, and take advantage of the darkness tonight to leave by boat. How about it?"

Zhou Yu nodded slightly and said, "I can follow my command."

……

That night, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu took advantage of the darkness to board the ship and leave, leaving behind the burned camp.

The next day, Liu Bei led everyone to the burned-out Jiangdong Army camp. They saw that the ground was full of damaged military tents and ashes after burning.

"As Zhongmiao said, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu were worried about the war in Danyang, so they led their troops to retreat." Liu Bei said, "The next step is to start from Zhongmiao, conquer Sun Ben's brothers in the south, and march eastward to the counties of Yishan."

When Xu Shu saw the enemy retreating, he also smiled and said: "Spring plowing has arrived, Sun Quan has withdrawn, and the people can produce with peace of mind. When the summer and autumn harvests come, our army will have something to eat. Yuzhang is rich, with one year old, and Jingzhou's grain and grass , the army is enough to feed them.”

However, before Liu Bei and Xu Shu could be happy for a long time, the scouts from Gan Ning's tent trotted over, looking anxious and saying, "I am reporting to my lord, the Poyang thief Peng Hu has led his troops to rebel and attack our counties and villages."

Liu Bei stopped his smile, frowned, and said, "When did it happen?"

"Just last night," the scout replied.

"last night?"

Liu Bei muttered, thinking of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu who had withdrawn their troops, and he immediately reacted and cursed: "How dare you do this, little Sun Quan!"

Huo Jun suddenly realized that he had been wondering why Sun Quan and Zhou Yu refused to return to the army after receiving the news. It turned out that they wanted to keep Peng Hu as a troublemaker before withdrawing.

A wise man must have a loss if he is worried.

Xu Shu stroked his beard and said: "My lord, we have all heard the name Peng Hu. He is entrenched in Pengli Ze, lives on an island in the lake, and gathers tens of thousands of people. The current rebellion must be inspired by Sun Quan to invade Henan. Zhang should not be underestimated and should be dealt with quickly."

"What do Zhongmiao think?" Liu Bei asked.

After pondering for a while, Huo Jun said: "Peng Hu's tribe is nothing more than a mob. In the past, it was entrenched in the swamp with dense waterways. People who are not familiar with the terrain cannot attack it. Now that it has gone ashore, it has lost the advantage of the terrain. It is not difficult to break it. .”

As he spoke, Huo Jun showed a smile on his face and said: "Huang Jiangxia unfortunately passed away and the navy was destroyed. Today, Peng Hu's tribe is familiar with water warfare. If he can be captured, it will be a good thing for the navy and we can rebuild it." Navy."

Since there are disasters, it is better to change our thinking and turn bad things into good things.

Most of Peng Hu's men are people who make a living on the water. Now that Jiangxia Navy has been destroyed, if Peng Hu's men can be captured, Liu Bei and Liu Qi can also form their own navy.

Liu Bei nodded slightly and said, "That's all we have to do!"

Not long after everyone had discussed and digested the bad news, Liu Qi led Wang Can's clan brother Wang Kai in a hurry, bringing extremely bad news. Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to return to Xiangyang to discuss matters in the name of asking about the war.
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① According to "Three Kingdoms: Biography of Dong Xi", the Poyang thief Peng Hu and tens of thousands of people attacked Ling Tong, Bu Zhi and Jiang Qin respectively.The attack was always broken, and when the tigers and others saw the flag, they dispersed, and in ten days it was all calm.

(End of this chapter)