Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 215 209. Dongwu's Response
Time goes back to a month ago, when the Battle of Fancheng ended and Feng Xi went to Yong'an. Dongwu has been uneasy for a while.

He had originally followed Cao Wei's arrangements, launched a surprise attack on Guan Yu, weakened Ji Han's strength, and took back Jingzhou, which "should have belonged to him". These two wonderful things should have brought him a dreamlike feeling, but why did things degenerate to this point?

A few days after Sun Quan asked Sun Shao to abandon Jiangxia and give the city to Zhang Nan and Zhao Lei who were moving down the river, he received news that Cao Wei was about to launch a surprise attack on Xiangfan.

At first, Sun Quan was both annoyed and regretful. He was annoyed that he let Sun Shao retreat too quickly. If he had persisted for a few more days, the Han army might have been forced to give up the siege of Jiangxia and turn to support Xiangyang.

What he regretted was that he had no soldiers at his disposal, only 20,000 to 30,000 troops under the command of Lu Dai and He Qi, who were barely able to defend several important towns along the Yangtze River.

But Sun Quan also knew that, even now, Wei and Han were fighting each other so fiercely that neither side had the extra troops to take care of him, a little Karami. As soon as the two sides finished fighting, the victorious side would definitely take time out to beat him up, and if he was unlucky, his country would be destroyed.

On the one hand, Sun Quan ordered the counties in Jiangdong to begin recruiting civilians and replenishing soldiers, and on the other hand, he ordered people to inquire about the news in the Fancheng area from various sources.

Of course, during the Battle of Dongting Lake, he also appointed Zhuge Jin as the fifth Grand Commander of Jiangdong after Lu Xun. The main reason was that there was no other candidate. Zhuge Jin was conscientious and had sufficient qualifications. In addition, he had been an envoy to the Han Dynasty many times and had a good understanding of the Han Dynasty. He was considered a general among the short men.

Unfortunately, Zhuge Jin had only been the Grand Commander for a few days when the Battle of Dongting Lake wiped out the last of the Wu army's resources, leaving Zhuge Jin a true commander without troops.

Sun Quan was walking on thin ice. He made his final struggle while waiting for the outcome of the Battle of Xiangfan to see who would be the one who would give him the final death.

Sun Quan thought that even if Cao Wei could not succeed in taking the initiative, it should be easy for them to capture Xiangyang. With Xiangyang as a thorn on the south bank of the Han River, even if Shu Han wanted to do something about him, it would have to consider Cao Wei's movements.

The result was shocking. Cao Wei was actually defeated by Ji Han's night attack. Of course, the intelligence sent back by the spies, such as "the Han army used magic", "provoked thunder and fire from heaven and earth", "protected by masters" and other words were automatically blocked by Sun Quan.

In this era, these stories about gods and ghosts had a great impact on grassroots soldiers. If the Wu army, whose morale had already fallen to the bottom, heard this news, they probably wouldn't even have needed to fight the Han army, and would either flee or surrender directly.

Cao Ren and his 100,000-strong army, whom Sun Quan had high hopes for, were defeated to the point where only one tenth of them remained. Cao Ren himself was knocked unconscious by the explosion and would not be able to move south in the short term.

Then the pressure will be back on Dongwu.

Sun Quan himself did not dare to stay in Chaisang any longer. After all, Jiangxia was gone, and Chaisang was the first stop for the Han army going down the river. Was he thinking that the Han army was not attacking hard enough by leaving such a big target here?
Sun Quan immediately fled back to Jianye with all the civil and military officials in the court and took charge of the rear area. He asked Sun Shao, who had just returned a few days ago, to continue to guard Chaisang, and asked Lu Dai and He Qi to take care of him.

Fortunately, there is always a way out. Just when Sun Quan was losing his appetite and waiting for bad news in Jianye, good news unexpectedly came: the old thief Liu Bei fell ill.

You know, Ji Han now looks like a big structure, but Liu Bei is just the beam and the glue. If Liu Bei is gone, although Ji Han, this towering building, will not collapse immediately, it will still shake a few times.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. I heard that Liu Bei's eldest son, Liu Chan, is only in his teens now. What can such a child do? If anything happens to Liu Bei, there will definitely be civil strife in Shu Han."

Zhang Zhao and Zhang Zibu standing by couldn't help but congratulate Sun Quan.

"Alas, this is God's help. Send more spies to find out more about the old villain Liu Bei."

Although Sun Quan didn't seem to care much about it, his smiling face clearly betrayed his thoughts. From a God's perspective, this timing was as coincidental as the heavy rain in Shangfang Valley, which just saved the desperate Wu. Although it was just lingering, as long as the Wu was not destroyed, there was still hope.

And even better news came more than ten days later.

That damned Feng Xi received Liu Bei's order to return to Sichuan, Liu Bei summoned all his officials to Yong'an, and Liu Bei died...

"The old thief Liu Bei is dead?!"

Sun Quan looked at the information in his hand and his pupils shrank unconsciously.

"Is this news really reliable?"

Sun Quan looked at Bu Zhi with a look of disbelief. Just like Cao Pi, although Sun Quan also hoped that Liu Bei would die soon, when Liu Bei really died, Sun Quan still couldn't believe it was true.

"Your Majesty, the news is very accurate. The entire Yong'an City is full of white banners. Shu Han has no intention of keeping the death a secret."

Bu Zhi bowed and answered truthfully what the spy had seen.

"Hahaha! Good, very good! Now that the old villain is dead, Jiangdong is safe!"

Sun Quan and Cao Pi reacted in exactly the same way, clapping their hands and laughing happily. It is estimated that the two of them had similar feelings and perceptions about Liu Bei's death, and Sun Quan was even happier.

"Your Majesty, please do not have such thoughts. Although Liu Bei is dead, his subordinates Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, Feng Xi and others are still here. Moreover, Feng Xi is now in charge of Jingzhou and is always eyeing Jiangdong. We must be on guard against this."

Seeing Sun Quan's happy face, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but pour a bucket of cold water on him. You are too happy too early. It's as if Liu Bei personally led the army to defeat Jiangdong. Isn't that killer still doing well in Jingzhou? You are laughing so early. Aren't you afraid of something happening?

After being advised by Zhang Zhao, Sun Quan finally came to his senses. Yes, Feng Xi was still alive and well. If he had taken his men down the river in a month or so, wouldn't he be finished too?

"Don't panic, my king. A spy has reported that many Shu troops in Jingzhou have begun to withdraw to Sichuan in an orderly manner. It seems that Liu Bei was worried about the weakness of Sichuan, so he transferred many troops from the Eastern Expedition back before his death. Although Jingzhou now has sufficient troops, the morale and training of the soldiers cannot be compared with before."

Seeing that Sun Quan was too depressed again, Bu Zhi quickly gave him another shot of cardiotonic.

"That's good, that's good. In this case, do you have any strategy to weaken Jingzhou's strength so that it can't harass Jiangdong?"

When Sun Quan heard that he could live a little longer, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately thought about finding something for Feng Xi to do.

(End of this chapter)