I seek economic hegemony in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 461 The arrow is on the string!

"General."

Yang Hu walked into Sima Shi's tent.

"Uncle, I heard that you have something to tell me?" Sima Shi asked without raising his head while writing a document.

"I do have something urgent to do."

"Go ahead."

"I think the current deployment of troops is problematic."

"what is the problem?"

"The general should not be in a hurry to deploy heavy troops in the southeast."

Sima Shi looked normal, still writing something. Facing Yang Hu's question, he simply asked, "Why?"

"Because the key to the southern battlefield is not in Yangzhou, at least not in Yangzhou at this stage."

"Then tell me, where is it?"

"In Jingzhou!"

"That's right, it is in Jingzhou." Sima Shi said, "I agree with you."

"Since the general agrees with what I said, why did he deploy so many troops in Yangzhou?"

"If Li Ji'an hadn't deployed so many troops here, how could he have sent his main force to the southeast?"

"The general wants to make a feint to the east and attack in the west, but I think that shouldn't be done. We should concentrate all the elite troops and main forces and capture Xiangyang in one go! As long as we attack Xiangyang, Jiangling will surely send reinforcements. If we capture Xiangyang, we will surely be able to capture Jiangling and cut off the connection between Yizhou and Yangzhou."

At this point, Yang Hu paused and continued, "Li Ji'an has been in charge of Jingzhou for longer than Yangzhou. As long as we can seize Jingzhou in one fell swoop, the local clans in Yangzhou will definitely join us to deal with Li Ji'an."

Seeing that Sima Shi didn't say anything, Yang Hu continued, "Yangzhou is currently carrying out a large-scale equal-field reform. The local clans dare not speak out and are obedient to Li Ji'an on the surface, but they are only forced by his power. If we can win the Jingzhou battlefield and break the myth of Li Ji'an's invincibility, the Yangzhou clans know best who they are secretly supporting."

Yang Hu is indeed a man who understands human nature.

He also understands the current situation.

Yangzhou was facing a large number of land reforms at this time, and Li Heng needed a large number of new officials in Yangzhou, many of whom were transferred from Yizhou and Jingzhou.

If the local officials of Yangzhou were relied upon, this reform would require a massacre and the Yangzhou aristocratic families would be slaughtered again.

This approach is extremely unwise given the current situation of huge external military pressure.

Therefore, Li Heng adopted the approach of mobilizing officials and allocating business shares to local families in exchange for gentle land reform.

The purpose was to prevent Cao Wei from raising troops at any time.

And Yang Hu's idea of ​​exerting internal political pressure on Yangzhou by achieving a military victory on the battlefield of Jingzhou is obviously feasible.

But Sima Shi said: "If we transfer all our main forces to Jingzhou, once Li Ji'an finds out, he will definitely march north."

"Shouchun City has strong defenses and river transportation..."

"No need to say more. I let you participate in military and political secrets because I think you are a talent, but with your current vision, you can't see the overall situation."

Sima Shi was not angry either, he just spoke very gently.

"Here is a batch of grain transferred from Yuzhou, a total of 100,000 dan, you go and examine it."

"General..."

"Go ahead, this is important."

"promise!"

After Yang Hu went out, Sima Shi stood in front of the map, looking at it for a long time without saying a word.

After entering May, it has been rainy and cloudy on both sides of the Yangtze River.

In the distance, there were layers of mist floating in the woods, and the boats on the river were crowded like shuttles. These boats entered the Ruxu River from the Ruxukou of the Yangtze River, and a large number of wooden boxes were transported down from the boats.

But more ships crossed the Ruxu River, entered Chaohu Lake, and continued heading towards Hefei.

By the evening, more than a dozen large ships docked at the Hefei ferry port.

"General." Wang Ling came over with his men to greet him personally.

It was still raining, and the banks of the river were crawling with frogs.

There were teams carrying supplies everywhere ahead.

"Why did you come here in person, Your Excellency?" Li Heng said with a fist. "Your health is more important. I still want to go to Luoyang for tea with Your Excellency."

Wang Ling laughed and said, "Thank you for your concern, General. I am in good health. General, please come this way."

"Please, my Lord."

Along the way, Li Heng saw a large number of horses moving forward.

There are at least several thousand of them.

"My lord, if these horses are transported like this on the official road, it will be easy for Cao Wei's spies around to detect them!" Zhu Qi said.

"It doesn't matter. This is what I talked about with the prince. We just want to let Cao Wei's spies know that we are also making big moves now." Li Heng said.

"Sima Shi has gathered hundreds of thousands of troops in Shouchun, and we will also gather hundreds of thousands of troops in Hefei! He wants to put his main force in Yangzhou, so we will stay with him in Yangzhou!"

"If he wants a decisive battle, we will fight with him!"

"General, according to the current situation, as long as we hold our ground, the wealth of Cao Wei's prefectures and counties will be further drained by us." Zhu Ju calculated, "We don't need to fight Sima Shi head-on."

"The reason why Sima Shi wants to fight us now is because we have dumped salt and tea in the Central Plains. Not only have we seized a lot of wealth, but we have also connected with various families."

Looking at the rain in the distance, Li Heng smiled.

"If you still want to fight a protracted war now, Sima Shi will not agree. The war has entered its final stage."

"When it's time to draw the sword, we must draw it!"

Zhu Ju added: "But last year our elite troops suffered heavy losses in Xuzhou..."

"Mr. Zhu, why worry? Our army has a perfect system of military merit. For those who died in battle, their spirit tablets have not been returned, but the pensions have been sent. For those who have been promoted to higher positions, their children will also receive preferential education." Wang Ling stroked his beard and smiled, "Now the whole army is willing to fight and fight to the death!"

"In my opinion, there is no need to wait for Sima Shi to send troops!" Li Heng said, "Why don't we take the initiative to march north and besiege Shouchun? If Sima Shi is willing to fight, the two armies can line up and have a decisive battle!"

"If Sima Shi is unwilling to fight, our army will blow up the walls of Shouchun and flatten the last stronghold of the Wei army in Yangzhou!"

When everyone heard this, they were shocked and immediately became alert.

"How about taking Shouchun and heading straight to the Central Plains?"

Everyone said: "The general is wise!"

"What about the battlefield in Jingzhou?" Zhu Ju said.

"Leave the battle of Jingzhou to them. I don't think we need to care about how it goes!" Li Heng added, "We are only responsible for breaking through Yangzhou and driving those warships into the Huai River, so that our great Han iron hooves can drink from the Yellow River again!"

"Aren't some of the nobles and aristocrats of Cao Wei planning to unite with Sima Shi to resist us? We will use swords and knives to tell them our will!"

On May 20th, 30,000 Han troops suddenly set out from Hefei and quickly advanced towards Chengde between Hefei and Shouchun.

When the intelligence was delivered to Shouchun, the top Wei army leaders in Shouchun were shocked.

The Wei army did not expect that the Han army not only did not defend, but instead took the initiative to advance.

On May 21st, when Shouchun was still discussing the purpose of the Han army, a large number of cavalry once again set out from Hefei, and their marching direction was still Chengde.

"Li Jian is going to fight us!"

(End of this chapter)