Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 663 General Chariot and Cavalry has a great idea!

In October, Cao Rui, who was worried about the battlefields in Qing and Xu, took the civil and military officials of the court on an eastern tour. He wanted to hold a military meeting in Rencheng, and the governors and generals of Qing, Yan, and Xu prefectures came upon hearing the news.

On October 20th, Cao Rui visited Rencheng, and Sun Quan and Wang Ling led the generals of the three states to Rencheng to welcome him.

Twenty miles outside the city, Sun Quan and Wang Ling led the civil and military officials of the three states to welcome Cao Rui's imperial carriage.

"Your Majesty has traveled a lot on the way. I have already ordered a banquet to welcome Your Majesty." Wang Ling said.

Cao Rui looked at the grand welcoming ceremony and said calmly: "Huo Jun has arrived in Jinling and will mobilize troops after the spring. Now that a war is imminent, we should apply the laws and disciplines of war. How can we think about having fun? Let's go into the city to discuss matters first."

"promise!"

Seeing Cao Rui's stiff attitude, Sun Quan and Wang Ling then noticed that Cao Rui was wearing armor on his eastern tour. Perhaps they vaguely guessed Cao Rui's intention, and Sun Quan and Wang Ling led everyone to bow and respond.

As Cao Rui's carriage entered the city, Sun Quan took the opportunity to find Liu Ye, and the two of them rode in the same carriage.

Sun Quan held onto the carriage railing and asked, "Zi Yang, Your Majesty came here in armor, spoke in a stern manner, and was concerned about military affairs. Could there be some changes?"

Liu Ye lowered his voice and said, "Mr. Sun, you don't know. Wu Zhi thinks that Mr. Sun has no ability to command troops. He wants to abandon the two counties of Donghai and Langya before the battle. He also wants to abandon Xuzhou. Therefore, he criticized Mr. Sun's arrangement to Your Majesty and asked Your Majesty to dismiss Mr. Sun."

Hearing this, Sun Quan's face darkened and he said, "I have had disputes with Wu Jizhong since the time of the previous emperor. Now that a war is imminent, I have ignored the battlefield situation and made such bad remarks to Your Majesty, intending to ruin the country's affairs."

Liu Ye sighed slightly and said, "Wu Jizhong used tigers, dogs, and pigs to describe the commanders of the three states. The tiger and dog are the Grand Marshal and the General of the Cavalry, but he compared Sun Jun to a pig. His suggestion that Sun Jun abandoned the two counties of Donghai and Langya and firmly defended the natural barrier of Muling Pass attracted criticism from many officers in the three states!"

Sun Quan sneered a few times and said, "I originally wanted to join hands with Wang Yanzhou to report to Your Majesty the strategy of holding the city. It is just right that Your Majesty is here now. Wu Jizhong is a narrow-minded person. I will let him suffer for his own mistakes!"

Liu Ye nodded slightly and said, "The strategy of defending Muling Pass and luring the enemy deep into our territory is mostly correct. Lord Sun can just report according to the strategy."

"good!"

After a while, Cao Rui, Sun Quan and Wang Ling entered the government office, and the civil and military officials lined up according to their shifts.

Sitting upright on the couch, Cao Rui did not say much nonsense and said directly: "You are all pillars of the country. It is the end of October now. There are still two or three months. Winter will retreat and the river will rise. Huo Jun has arrived in Moling and summoned the troops from the south to gather."

"To be honest, I have received a detailed military report, which says that Huo Jun's mobilization this time is unprecedented in the history of the Southern Dynasty. His troops are so numerous that they may be stronger than ours. Therefore, I am not on a tour to the east today for any other reason, but to come here specifically for the war in Qi and Lu, to supervise the defenses of various places."

After a pause, Cao Rui looked at Sun Quan and asked in a more serious tone, "How are you preparing for the war? Do you have any specific strategies?"

Sun Quan understood what he meant, stood up and left the table, saying: "Your Majesty, I have been discussing with Wang Yanzhou and Lu Xuzhou for many months, and gradually came up with a strategy for using troops. I wanted to submit a memorial to Your Majesty. Unexpectedly, Your Majesty came to Yanzhou in person, and I was extremely terrified!"

"nothing!"

Cao Rui slowed down his tone and said, "Now that I have come here, Sun Qing can present your strategy to me in person!"

"promise!"

Sun Quan bowed to Cao Rui and said, "Your Majesty has summoned the civil and military officials from the three states, so I will take this opportunity to say goodbye to you!"

After getting Cao Rui's approval, Sun Quan looked at Wu Zhi intentionally or unintentionally and said, "Recently, I have heard a lot of gossip that Xuzhou is the gateway to the Central Plains and should be guarded by a powerful general. Even if a powerful general is not available, a dog should be sent to guard the house. However, I didn't expect that Your Majesty would send a pig to guard Xuzhou."

"Ha~"

As soon as the self-deprecating words were uttered, everyone in the hall couldn't help but laugh, even Cao Rui, who had always had a gloomy face, smiled.

Seeing Cao Rui's smile, Sun Quan changed his tone and said in a deep voice: "However, I think that the pig metaphor is meant as a compliment."

"Although Quan seldom used troops, he often read military books, such as "The Art of War", "Wei Liao Zi", "Tai Gong Liu Tao", etc. Quan was familiar with them. Therefore, he observed the exquisiteness of military tactics and the use of troops by ancient people. He learned a lot from them."

Sun Quan paced forward and said, "What do you mean by using troops like pigs? I think it is nothing more than the following two points. First, when facing the enemy, point your tail towards the wall, making it difficult for the enemy to hit your tail. Second, pigs use their heads to face the enemy. They have fat heads and big ears, so they can withstand heavy resistance. When the enemy is slack, they bite them with their sharp teeth, and the enemy will be defeated by the pigs." Listening to Sun Quan's words about using troops like pigs, Wu Zhi couldn't help but sneer and whispered, "What nonsense!"

"Ok?"

Sun Quan looked at Wu Zhi who was talking and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Wu?"

"Not yet!"

Seeing everyone's gazes coming towards him, Wu Zhi said calmly, "What I just said is very insightful, Mr. Sun!"

Sun Quan knew that Wu Zhi had said nothing good, so he suppressed his displeasure and continued, "I have pondered with you two for a long time, and after watching Huo Jun's military tactics, I have learned something. Huo Jun is now a fierce tiger of Chu, and few people in the world can defeat him. It is difficult to control him with the methods of tigers and dogs."

"When Huo Jun used his troops, he loved to use fire and water as aids. In the past, Zhenze and Jinkou won by using fire attacks, while Hefei and Shouchun won by flooding. In addition to fire and water, when Huo Jun used his troops, he often liked to besiege a city and attack its reinforcements, or lure the enemy deep into his territory and then attack them."

"So if you want to resist Huo Jun, you should not defend each city one by one, but should give up some. For example, the reason why Shouchun was able to contain Huo Jun for many years is that Shouchun has the Central Plains behind it and can get the power of Henan. Even if you raise a large army to besiege it, you can't attack it because our army is coming to support it, and the inside and outside will respond!"

Sun Quan looked around at everyone and said confidently, "If our army can deprive Huo Jun of water and fire, so that he can't besiege the city and attack the reinforcements, we can defend the city with its natural defenses and repel his troops!"

In terms of learning the art of war, we have to admit that Sun Quan was a good student. In order to resist Huo Jun, Sun Quan found out Huo Jun's military deployment cases over the past decades and carefully reviewed them one by one to find Huo Jun's military deployment style.

After spending more than half a year, Sun Quan finally made some progress. In his opinion, Huo Jun used only two tactics to fight on the water: fire attack on water battles and flooding on sieges. If flooding was not possible, he would just besiege the city and attack the reinforcements, using the strong troops at his disposal to win.

Apart from the above two, Huo Jun's use of troops seemed to have no new ideas, and he used these tried and tested tactics. Therefore, Sun Quan thought that he had grasped the essence of Huo Jun's use of troops, and when he formulated strategies with Liu Ye, Wang Ling, and Lu Qian, he often thought about them based on these battle examples.

"Ok!"

Listening to Sun Quan's words, Cao Rui nodded and said, "Since Sun Qing took office in Qingzhou, I believe you have studied Huo Jun's military tactics in depth. Looking at Huo Jun's military tactics, they are nothing more than the above strategies!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Sun Quan flattered him and said, "So I set out on this journey and discussed with Wang Yanzhou and Lü Xuzhou. I think the road to Donghai and Langya is smooth and unstoppable."

"Langya County is governed by Kaiyang, which is adjacent to the Yi and Zhi rivers. It is surrounded by water on three sides, but it is bordered by plains to the north. It seems to be a place that must be fought for by military strategists and cannot be abandoned. However, looking at the current situation, I think that if we defend Kaiyang, Huo Jun will definitely build a river dam to flood the city, and then station troops in strategic locations to defeat the reinforcements, following the strategy of the past."

"At that time, Huo Jun was besieging Kaiyang, and the Qingxu troops rushed to rescue it. Due to the disparity in strength, they would most likely be defeated by Huo Jun. If the Yanzhou troops and the Qingxu troops were ordered to advance separately, and the Yanzhou troops marched out of Taishan County, they would be defeated by Huo Jun halfway because of the many steep mountains along the way."

"The troops of Qing and Yan provinces were defeated by Huo Jun. After taking Kaiyang, he will turn to attack Pengcheng. With the Si River flooding Pengcheng, the gates of Bian and He rivers will be wide open. Huo Jun will be able to go north to the Yellow River, take the Central Plains in the west, and sweep Qing and Xu in the east. For the sake of national affairs, Quan believes that Kaiyang cannot be defended and should be abandoned, and the troops should be withdrawn to Muling Pass."

Cao Rui compared the map of Qi and Lu with Sun Quan's predicted words, and his expression became serious again.

It was indeed as Sun Quan said, if Kaiyang was used as a bridgehead to stop Huo Jun from using his troops, then Huo Jun would most likely adopt the method of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, with the navy blocking the surface of the Zhi and Yi rivers and sending troops to block the north of the city to surround Kaiyang City.

In order to rescue Kaiyang City, Cao Wei's troops from Qingzhou will go down the Yi River and come from the northeast; while the troops from Yanzhou will enter Taishan County and come from the northwest.

The Yimeng Mountains separate the northeast and northwest sides, making it very inconvenient for messengers to deliver messages, and it is difficult to march in a unified manner due to the long distance.

If the troops were divided and marched separately, and each unit had fewer soldiers than Huo Jun, Huo Jun would seize the opportunity and defeat them one by one. Therefore, Sun Quan's proposal to give up Langya and Donghai counties was actually the right choice.

"color!"

Cao Rui could not help but applaud and said, "Sun Qing's words are truly insightful. If we defend Langya, the troops in Qingzhou will be in danger. If we sit back and watch the siege, all the soldiers in Kaiyang City will be captured by Huo Jun, which will be a waste of troops."

Hearing Cao Rui's approval, Sun Quan couldn't help but look proud, and glanced at Wu Zhi. But he saw that Wu Zhi looked gloomy and seemed very dissatisfied.

(End of this chapter)