Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 657: Jingzhou Stalemate
"So, given the current situation, I ask Your Majesty to get up and return to the capital to take charge!"

Lu Kang bowed and gave his final suggestion to Sun Quan in a deep voice.

The reason why Dongwu was so eager to fight was because the battle line was at their doorstep. But if something went wrong at Ruxuwu before the battle even started, the soldiers would probably lose their will to fight.

Therefore, no matter what, priority must be given to stabilizing the rear and ensuring that the families of the soldiers are not threatened.

After Lu Kang made the proposal, Zhuge Ke also bowed and followed to persuade Sun Quan to return to Jianye. All the generals of the Eastern Wu in Ruxuwu persuaded Sun Quan together, and finally made Sun Quan hesitate.

"But...if I return to Jianye with the Imperial Guards, what will you do if you are unable to resist the Shu army?"

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Although Ma Su is good at fighting, our Eastern Wu soldiers are no pushovers. The defense of Ruxuwu City is strong, and Ma Su will not be able to attack it no matter what." Zhuge Ke relieved Sun Quan's worries, but at the same time, fearing that Sun Quan would not believe him, he added something else.

"What's more, Ma Su is now quite old and is no longer the Guanxi butcher he once was."

"Especially now, even if he still wants to use his sword, these Western Shu troops will still have to face the problem of not being able to adapt to the local climate. At least this time, even if Ma Su has the help of ghosts and gods, he will not be able to break through Ruxuwu!"

Zhuge Ke's explanation finally silenced Sun Quan. After hesitating for a long time, Sun Quan slowly nodded and said,

"In that case, Ruxuwu will be handed over to you! I...will go back to Jianye to take charge of the situation first!"

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After being persuaded by Lu Kang, Zhuge Ke, Lu Ju and other generals of the Eastern Wu, Sun Quan finally left Ruxuwu. As Sun Quan returned south with 20,000 imperial troops, the Eastern Wu troops also gave up the harassment.

There were only so few people left, and their strength was almost the same as that of the Han army. If they continued to lose strength, Lu Kang would not be sure to defend the city against Ma Su.

Fortunately, for now, Ma Su had no interest in storming Ruxu. He urged the Han army to speed up the construction of the city walls while sending people to gather information from Jingzhou.

Yangzhou's Yangtze River defense system requires an entire river as a barrier. It requires the entire Yangtze River from Jiangling in the west to Wujun in the east to be in hand.

But now Jiangling has been conquered by the Han army, and Ji Han's navy has been training in Jingzhou for several years. According to Ma Su's feeling, it is time to put some pressure on Dongwu in Jingzhou, right?
However, the news from Jingzhou still disappointed Ma Su. Although Ji Han had invested heavily in the navy in recent years, the harvest did not meet expectations.

In June, when Ma Su went south to threaten Ruxu, Li Hui, the governor of Jingzhou, led 20,000 naval forces from Xiangyang and Jiangling to the east to threaten Xiakou. The two sides fought in the territory of Jiangxia, but the end result was that the Han army suffered a hidden loss, and Li Hui himself was almost shot by an arrow.

During the Jiangxia naval battle, Luo Tong, the new commander of the Jiangdong navy, became famous. Under his command, Li Hui was completely blocked and had no way out.

It was still the Three Kingdoms period, and the Yunmeng Marsh in the east of Nanjun was still very large. Because of the influence of this swamp, it was difficult for the Han army to threaten Xiakou by land.

Therefore, after the defeat in the naval battle, Jingzhou would have little chance of retaking Xiakou.

This news gave Ma Su a headache. Although Jiangling was recovered, the threat to Yangzhou was still limited. Unless there were talents who were good at naval warfare, it would be difficult for Jingzhou to contain enough forces of the Eastern Wu.

But at the moment, he really couldn't find any good talents to provide to Jingzhou. After all, most of Ji Han's talents were given priority to participate in the Northern Expedition, and few people studied naval warfare.

"This is indeed a bit difficult..."

Ma Su shook his head, feeling very dissatisfied with the progress of Jingzhou. After a moment's silence, he looked at Liu Yindao beside him.

"Xiu Ran, you and Ju Wei have guarded Jingzhou for many years. Do you have any talents who are good at naval battles that you can recommend?" "General, no." Liu Yin smiled bitterly and shook his head in reply.

"Naval warfare requires extremely high quality soldiers, and sufficient warships are needed to maintain combat effectiveness... Under such circumstances, it is still difficult to narrow the gap between us and the Eastern Wu navy."

"Is that so?" Ma Su touched his chin and sighed helplessly.

"In that case, I'll write a letter to Luoyang and let the Prime Minister deal with this matter."

"The Prime Minister has the Crown Prince in Luoyang to supervise Guandong. I think he should be able to find some talents who are good at naval warfare, right?"

Ma Su had almost become a conditioned reflex now. Whenever there was something that could not be completed in a short time, he would habitually send it to Zhuge Liang. Anyway, he was in charge of the front-line battles, and he had no experience in personnel appointments and dismissals.

Every time Ma Su brought up a difficult problem, Zhuge Liang took over the problem completely and solved it for Ma Su quickly.

All I can say is that he is worthy of being a prime minister of all ages. His administrative ability and efficiency are truly unparalleled in the world.

After discussing the issue of Jingzhou, Ma Su asked about the current progress of the city. In the past few days, the Eastern Wu had basically given up harassing the city, and the Han army's progress speed suddenly increased.

"We are making rapid progress. If the Eastern Wu stops harassing us, it will only take another half month for our city to be completed." Liu Yin nodded and bowed to Ma Su.

"It will take another half a month... I can still wait." Ma Su stroked his chin, muttering to himself while thinking.

Although it has exceeded the original planned time, the rear can still hold on. At most, Yu and Xu states will have to donate blood for another half a month, and the loss is still within an acceptable range.

As long as the city is built, all problems will be solved. The Han army can be stationed at the gate of Ruxu for a long time, and the grain can be transported smoothly to the Yangtze River.

These would be of great help to the future journey south, so Ma Su finally made the decision to wait here for another half a month.

However, just when Ma Su made this decision and was about to go to the front line to encourage the soldiers, a messenger suddenly came from behind. Before Ma Su could react, the messenger hurriedly jumped off the horse and ran straight to Ma Su.

"General! Please return to Luoyang as soon as possible! Something unexpected has happened in Hebei!"

"Hebei?"

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Back in June, Ma Su had been stationed in Hefei for more than half a year and had led his troops south to attack Wu for the first time.

In Yecheng, Hebei, Cao Shuang also initially completed the consolidation of power.

Cao Shuang knew very well that under the current situation, the Hebei nobles must have already thought about surrendering. If they were not suppressed forcefully, the entire Cao Wei regime would probably fall apart before the Shu army could march north.

So after taking back the military power of Qingzhou Army and Liaodong Army from Sima Shi, he quickly began to integrate power.

(End of this chapter)