Chapter 81 What is genius!

Author: Yang's Liangjiazi

Chapter 81 What is genius!

The name Zhou Zhang is not very famous, but another person related to him is a famous official in the late Han Dynasty who is known to everyone. That is Chen Deng, the prefect of Guangling.

The reason why Chen Deng is so famous is that 99% of his achievements were made by Zhou Zhang, or in other words, he was blown away.

A very critical point in determining a person's historical status and reputation in future generations is whether he can promote himself.

For example, Chen Deng is a typical example in this regard. He is a typical talent that is difficult to evaluate, but his talent is definitely top-notch in the world.

When helping Liu Bei to take control of Xuzhou, he made a bold statement: "Now I want to make you a leader and ride on a hundred thousand horses. The superiors can help the people and become the five hegemons. The subordinates can cede the land and defend the territory, and write down the merits on bamboo and silk."

Based on Sun Ce's observation, it would be good if his bold words could be realized even half of the time.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with cheering up the princes. Almost all of Sun Ce's civil servants encouraged Sun Ce, saying that Bizhou was rich in Yin, and if the general could occupy Jiangdong, he would be able to have millions of people and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. , fight for the world.

But in fact, Sun Ce now has the support of Danyang and Wujun, so he can only recruit more than ten thousand cavalry.

Therefore, it is understandable for Chen Deng to make some big talk in this regard. But the key point is that others are not like Chen Deng, who just won the favor of Jiang and Huaihe, so they have the ambition to devour Jiangnan. It seems that Sun Ce is just a child with a yellow mouth. Even if there are ten times as many people as Jiangdong, if they dare to go north to Guangling, they can be swallowed up by Duke Cao.

And the reason why he has such a reputation, and there are even rumors that he defeated Sun Ce twice, is all thanks to Zhou Zhang.

In 199, during the Battle of Kuangqi, Chen Deng was besieged by Zhou Zhang in Kuangqi City. While Chen Deng sent his meritorious officer Chen Jiao to break out of the siege and ask for help, he ordered his subordinates to secretly set up camp ten miles out of the city, and then gather firewood at the place where reinforcements must pass through, ten steps apart. A pile of them, arranged in vertical and horizontal rows, arranged neatly, and then lit at night, illuminating far and near.

Zhou Zhang's troops were frightened and collapsed at the sight of the fire, while Chen Deng reined in his troops and gave chase.

It was such a simple battle without even a fierce battle. One side saw the torch and ran away, while the other side sent troops to chase.

With a wave of Chen Deng's hand, the good news was that Chen Deng defeated Sun Ce and beheaded more than ten thousand people!

Chen Deng's reputation instantly became famous. He was able to decapitate tens of thousands of Sun Ce's troops. He was simply a peerless hero. So how could he not defeat at least 20,000 or even 30,000 Sun Ce's men in one battle?

But in fact, Sun Ce has never fought a wealthy battle with more than 30,000 people in his life.

In 199, Sun Ce was gathering all his main forces and all his elite troops, preparing to attack Lujiang. His cousins ​​Sun Bi and Sun Fu led eight thousand troops to garrison at Poyang Lake to defend against the Yuzhang County army in the south. The famous general Zhou Yu commanded a main force of 20,000 to attack Wancheng with all his strength, and captured Yuan Shu's wife and more than 130,000 troops. It was during this battle that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu accepted the large bridge and small bridge.

As soon as Lujiang was captured, Huang She, the son of Huang Zu, the governor of Jiangxia, led more than 5,000 troops to the rescue. Sun Ce once again led his army westward and defeated Huang She. Then he continued to attack Jiangxia and defeated Liu Biao and Huang Zu's coalition forces. , he killed Han Xi, the general of Liu Biao's army, captured Huang Zu's wife, and seized 6,000 warships. Huang Zu escaped alone.

He spent the whole year fighting in the west, and then the following year he led his army southward into Yuzhang County, sent his great treasure Yu Fan as an envoy, and forced the surrender of Yuzhang County Governor Hua Xin.

Under such circumstances, how could Sun Ce have the energy to allocate an army of 20,000 to 30,000 to Zhou Zhang, and let Chen Deng cut off tens of thousands of levels in one go? And the key is, after allocating an army of 30,000, there were no other famous Jiangdong generals, only Zhou Zhang

One person is in charge.

In fact, Sun Ce suffered the disadvantage of not being able to brag. The war between him and the Chen brothers Chen Yu and Chen Deng actually lasted for a long time.

For example, when Sun Ce just started his western expedition, Chen Yu sent people with more than thirty seals to the commander-in-chief Zulang, Jiao Ji and Wujun in Danyang, Xuancheng, Jingxian, Lingyang, Shi'an, Yixian, Shexian and other places.

Wucheng, Yan, Baihu and others asked them to serve as internal responders, and as soon as Sun Ce's troops moved out, they immediately attacked Jiangdong counties.

The defeat of these troops was not something worth mentioning in Sun Ce's eyes. Sun Ce then sent Lu Fan and Xu Yi led his troops to fight directly across the sea and attacked Haixi. They defeated Chen Yu and captured four of his officials and wives.

Thousands of people.

Haixi County is located in the northernmost and northeastern corner of Guangling County. It is connected to Donghai County. Donghai County is very small, covering an area of ​​only a few hundred miles. To be more precise, Haixi County is only less than a mile away from Langya Kingdom in Shandong.

One hundred miles. A little further north, he ran to Qingzhou. Chen Yu also decisively abandoned the army after his defeat and ran to Qingzhou to join Yuan Shao.

Lu Fan has never been known for his ability to lead troops, and Xu Yi is not even a first-rate general under Sun Ce. In this way, he can lead a partial division across the sea to attack the city. Chen Deng's cousin Chen Yu left his wife and son behind, and left the army alone.

.

According to Chen Deng's boast, Xu Yi would have killed at least 40,000 people in this battle, surpassing Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu and others in one fell swoop and becoming the top general in Jiangdong. In fact, he was also a hero in Jiangdong, but Xu Yi's reputation was not as good as that of Ling Cao.

10%.

It can only be said that battle reports can be deceiving, but battle lines cannot! As soon as Chen Deng finished this battle, he was transferred out of Guangling and served as the prefect of Dongcheng several hundred miles away. If he really had the ability to defeat Sun Ce's army, Cao Cao would go crazy

He will be transferred from Guangling.

In fact, judging from the behavior of Zhou Zhang's subordinates who were defeated by the wind, it is obvious that Sun Ce used the same method as the Chen brothers to instigate rebellion against the Guangling tribe, to disgust and contain Guangling, and prevent them from going south to attack Wu Commandery during his western expedition.

This method is indeed not very clever, but it cannot be resisted. All generals in this era love to use this trick. For example, Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, and later incited a large number of Cao Wei rebels to respond. The rebels even appeared near Xuchang, and they were frightened.

Cao Cao almost moved the capital.

The Chen brothers instigated a rebellion in Danyang, and there were a large number of powerful and powerful people in Wu County, including Zong Shuai. Naturally, Sun Ce also had to instigate a group of Qu commanders and Hao You in Guangling.

So when he heard Zhou Zhang say that he was from Xuzhou who had lived in the Jianghuai area, Sun Ce glanced at him carefully.

With this kind of background, he should have known many Jianghuai heroes. But this guy actually gave up his career and came here just because he opened a warehouse to stockpile grain.

This makes Sun Ce feel a bit...hateful. You gave up your ambitions and ideals just for a few bowls of rice? Where is your iron bones? Where is your army on the battlefield? It tastes so good in the blink of an eye?

And heard Sun Ce ask him if he knew any old friends of heroes in the Jianghuai area.

Zhou Zhang's eyes immediately lit up and he asked: "General, are you trying to recruit heroes? Bandits are everywhere in the Jianghuai area, and there are countless people who support them for personal gain. When I was wandering in the Jianghuai area, I made many old friends. If I have the reputation of a general, I will also open up a supply of food and grass."

, I can recruit a large number of people for the general and help him establish his hegemony."

Sun Ce was even dumbfounded. How could you expect Cao Mang, who was a bandit, to have any good suggestions? All they could think of was to lure the bandits and gather in the green forest.

Sun Ce originally wanted to drive him out and ask him to go to Huainan and Guangling to organize people and get acquainted with the rebel army. Not to mention conquering half of the country like Princess Pingyang, at least he could form a usable rebel army to echo his Northern Expedition.

But now it seems that if this guy uses his own name and goes to Jiangbei, he will only gather a group of bandits and bandits to roar in the mountains and forests.

So Sun Ce said: "General Liyang is working to recruit people from the Jianghuai River. Have you ever considered returning to Xuzhou?"

"Xuzhou?" Zhou Zhang was stunned for a moment. It has been more than ten years since he left Xuzhou, and now he has lived in the south of the Yangtze River. He has almost given up on returning to Xuzhou. Now that the general mentioned his hometown, he was reminded of his hometown for a moment.

Lovesickness.

Sun Ce said: "I know that your family is settled in Wu County, but Xuzhou and Wu County are only separated by a river, especially Jiangdu and Guangling counties can be seen across the river. I hope you can go to this area to attract a group of real people.

A hero, not a bandit or bandit."

Jiangdu was once the capital established by King Liu Bi of Wu. During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang was so fond of it that he almost regarded Jiangdu as his second capital.

In later generations, the place was renamed Yangzhou. Being rich with a hundred thousand gold coins and riding a crane down to Yangzhou became an inherent impression in the hearts of the Central Plains people.

Sun Ce had never thought of sticking to the south of the Yangtze River. In any case, bringing Yangzhou under his command was the most reasonable strength plan.

More importantly, there are so many famous generals in Xuzhou!

For example, Xu Sheng.

The saying "Anyone who invades the territory of Da Wu will be attacked and defeated" has made Dabao's name known to almost everyone in the world.

Zhou Zhang also thought seriously for a moment, then handed over his hands and replied: "I heard that since the Zhe Rong Rebellion, Guangling has been in ruins. General Yuan and General Liu are fighting in Guangling again, and the people are uneasy. If the general is interested, I am willing to sneak into Guangling and serve as the general.

Influence."

"Good! Very good!" Sun Ce clasped his hands excitedly: "Nowadays, there are many refugees in Guangling, and there are many fish and dragons mixed together. You will not attract attention at all if you sneak in. I will also promote you to the commander of the naval army. You can form your own troops and build buildings.

Ferry to facilitate the people of Xuzhou to enter Jiangdong."

In fact, the ideas of the lords of each party are generally similar. What they like most is to just give them a name and let them develop their own side.

For example, Yuan Shu only gave Sun Ce a title and hoped that Sun Ce would help him conquer the entire Jiangdong.

Sun Ce also only gave Zhou Zhang a title and dozens of subordinates, hoping that he would help him develop a huge force that would influence the entire Jiangbei.

Sun Ce believed that Zhou Zhang should have this ability. After all, he had pulled out ten times the troops and besieged Chen Deng, the prefect of Guangling, in Kuangqi City.

Now Sun Ce does not need Zhou Zhang to lead troops to attack Chen Deng. As long as he can manage Jiangbei well, then Guangling City will be taken first!

Sun Ce's military deployment is bound to be different from Sun Quan's.

But thinking about this issue is a bit far away now. The top priority is to capture Wu County.

So after arranging Zhou Zhang, Sun Ce looked at Deng Dang and said with a smile: "If I want to wipe out Wu Commandery, I must combine the right and the odd to defeat the enemy quickly. Your idea of ​​​​surprise attack in light clothes and fight in short combat is indispensable.

It’s very amazing. It’s not an idea that warriors like these two would come up with. Whose suggestion was it?”

Deng Dang hesitated for a moment, then raised his hands and said, "I heard that I would not avoid relatives during the imperial examination, and I would not hide it from the general. This idea was strongly suggested by my brother-in-law, Amon."

"Amon?"

The next moment, a little soldier with a tiger-like head and a wild look in his eyes stood out and shouted a loud voice in response.

"General, I am! My surname is Lu, my given name is Meng, and my courtesy name is Ziming."

Lu Meng!

While the others laughed, Sun Ce took a deep breath and looked at this wild young man.

Lü Meng! I have been apart for three days, and I am the protagonist who is looking at you with admiration.

One of the seventy-two most outstanding generals in the Central Plains for five thousand years.

Moreover, he is one of the generals who is capable of both literary and military skills and has strict military discipline.

Later generations always thought that Lu Meng relied on a surprise attack to defeat Guan Yu before entering the martial arts temple.

In fact, this is an underestimation of Lü Meng. Lü Meng made countless military exploits in his life.

He also fought with Guan Yu more than once. When Guan Yu was guarding Jingzhou, Lu Meng led an army of 20,000 to capture Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang from Guan Yu with thunderous force.

Of course, since Lu Meng and Guan Yu have never had a direct and fierce confrontation in a dignified formation, the question of which one is stronger and which one is weaker is basically the same as Chen Deng's. It all relies on reputation.

But what Sun Ce admired very much about Lu Meng was that his ideas were very consistent with his own.
To be continued...