The last three kingdoms

Chapter 963
Zhong Hui is miserable. He spent several years to build a country within a country. He thought it could be as solid as a rock, but he didn't expect that it would fall apart in just a few days.

How many troops did Yang Hu bring?But only a mere 20, no matter from which point of view, he can't shake the Zhong Kingdom, which has four counties, a hundred cities, and nearly [-] soldiers. When Yang Hu led the army to go out, Zhong Hui would still sneer Back then, when he dominated the world, Yang Hu was only a small secretary and supervisor.

When Zhong Hui won the respect and favor of Sima Zhao, Yang Hu had to take a detour when he saw Zhong Hui, for fear of offending Zhong Hui and causing innocent disasters.

In Zhong Hui's memory, Yang Hu was such a cowardly and fearful character with both sides of the snake and mouse. Zhong Hui never looked at him at the beginning. He didn't expect that there were no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys could become kings. Becoming the commander-in-chief of the world's soldiers and horses made Zhong Hui sigh: "There are no heroes in the world, so Zhu Zi became famous!"

But it was such a Yang Hu, who Zhong Hui didn't even look down on at the beginning, who gave Zhong Hui a fatal blow as soon as he appeared on the stage.Moreover, this blow was not won on the battlefield in an upright manner. Yang Hu used a particularly insidious method, using an amnesty order to confuse Zhong Hui's army, and lured Hu Lie and some generals who were not determined to defect. And set a trap, and defeated Zhonghui in Xinye.

How to dignify the military spirit has always been a headache for Zhonghui. Nine out of ten soldiers in Zhonghui come from the Central Plains and Guanlong, which means that these soldiers are particularly homesick, especially after the break with Jin. The morale of the army has always been in an extremely unstable state.

In order to consolidate the morale of the army, Zhong Hui thought of many ways, one of which was to vote for a certificate. He forced Hu Lie to kill Sima Liang, let ordinary soldiers kill the defectors, and made their hands stained with the blood of Jin as much as possible. , so that they can completely cut off their idea of ​​fleeing back to Jin.The second is the continuous sitting system. One person defected, one team was punished, one team defected, and one team was all executed. Through mutual monitoring and mutual restraint, the morale of the entire army was suppressed, and there was no crisis of bombing the camp.

But Yang Hu figured out the weakness of the rebel army, and with an order of pardon, he easily dispersed Zhong Hui's military spirit that had been worked so hard for so many years.Zhonghui governs the army, just like Gun governs the water. If he does not dredge and block the dams, the dams will be built higher and higher. The results of years of hard work will be destroyed in one day.

To stick to Xiangyang, he can only sit and wait to die, but if he abandons Xiangyang, Zhong Hui doesn't know where he will go.For a while, Zhong Hui was at a loss.

"Yiyang is not far from here, and Lu Kang, the governor of Eastern Wu, is leading his troops there. Why don't you ask him for help? If you get Lu Kang's help, the siege of Yanghu can be solved." Later General Wang Mai gave Zhong Hui an idea. .

After Hu Lie's rebellion, the only people Zhong Hui could trust were Xia Houxian, Ju'an, Wang Mai, Zhong Yong and Liao Liao. I couldn't believe it anymore, I was afraid they would become the second Hu Lie. After returning to Xiangyang, Zhong Hui dismissed Tian Xu and others and put them under house arrest.

When Wang Mai proposed to ask Soochow for help, Zhong Hui couldn't help but secretly frowned. During the rebellion, the relationship between Zhonghui and Soochow was quite harmonious. He bowed his head to proclaim himself a minister, but also deliberately flattered him, keeping his posture very low, which naturally won Soochow's favor.

But later Zhong Hui's strength grew, and the threat from Jin became smaller. Zhong Hui's attitude became arrogant, and he was not very respectful to Soochow. Even in the border area with Soochow, for the sake of There were also some bloody conflicts in the fight for land. Although it did not lead to the consequences of a full-scale war, it is an indisputable fact that the relationship between the two sides has turned hostile.

Asking Soochow for help at this time, Zhong Hui couldn't help but feel a little drummed in his heart. Many things he did before were a bit too extreme, which caused resentment among Soochow people, and it would be very difficult for Soochow to send troops.

Seeing Zhonghui's embarrassment, Wang Mai said, "Don't worry, my lord. Although we are at odds with Soochow now, our lips are dead and our teeth are cold after all. Soochow still needs us to resist Jin for them. To them, our demise is nothing to worry about." It won't do any good. Your Majesty, I would like to go to Yiyang personally, and try my best to persuade Lu Kang to send troops to rescue him."

Zhong Hui was overjoyed, and immediately appointed Wang Mai as a special envoy, and presented many valuable gifts to Lu Kang. Wang Mai left Xiangyang overnight and rushed to Yiyang.

The Wu army has occupied Yiyang for many years, facing the Jin army across the river, although some conflicts inevitably occurred, but generally speaking, the border between the two sides was relatively calm, and there were no large-scale battles.

However, following Yanghu's conquest of Jingzhou, the Jin State increased its garrison in the direction of Runan in order to contain the Wu army in Yiyang, and assumed an aggressive posture.

Lu Kang guarded the border for a long time, but he couldn't turn a deaf ear to the affairs of the court. Sun Haohuang was lewd and cruel, acted recklessly, murdered ministers, and was tyrannical and immoral, which led to chaos in the government. , but Sun Hao turned a deaf ear and ignored it, and Lu Kang was beyond his reach, so he could only do his duty and stick to the frontier.

The war situation in the Central Plains has been turned upside down, and Lu Kang is on the edge of the Huaihe River, so it is impossible not to know about it. In Lu Kang's view, the chaos in the Central Plains is the best time for Soochow to march. The dream of aspiring to the Central Plains has a good chance of becoming a reality.

If successful, then Sun Hao will definitely surpass the great emperor Sun Quan and become the most successful monarch in the history of Wu.But it is a pity that Sun Hao didn't have much interest in this. Lu Kang submitted letters several times, but he shirked them on the grounds that the treasury was empty and the people were poor and the soldiers were exhausted. This made Lu Kang's fiery ambition gradually cool down. faded.

Due to excessive worry and overwork, Lu Kang became sick from overwork, and Lu Kang's physical condition was deteriorating. Lu Kang often sighed, time is not waiting for me!
With the pacification of the Xiongnu wars, the state of Jin has become stronger again. This time, the use of troops against Zhonghui, who is in Jingzhou, clearly shows this. At the same time, the situation on the entire southern front has also become tense. Lu Kang He had to drag his sick body and manage Yiyang's defense to deal with the attack that Jin might launch at any time.

Zhong Hui sent an envoy, which did not surprise Lu Kang at all, he just ordered Zhong Hui to bring the envoy in.

(End of this chapter)