It was already the fifth day that Sun Quan led the army to the expedition. Zhou Yu came to the river to fish as usual.
"Captain." Xu Sheng came to Zhou Yu with a bucket and sat down. He threw the fish in the fish basket into the bucket. He looked at Zhou Yu who looked calm, opened his mouth, and hesitated to speak.
"Yes." Zhou Yu moved his waist and stretched his muscles, then nodded and said, "Wen Xiang is here, I'm busy."
Then, as if he didn't see Xu Sheng's hesitant expression, he continued fishing back, followed by another hour of silence. Xu Sheng didn't know how to speak, and wanted to wait for Zhou Yu to start, but Zhou Yu couldn't say a word.
Not to mention, on the river bank, there are only the sounds of the waves rolling up on the river surface blown by the river wind and the occasional sound of leaves splashing into the bucket when Zhou Yu catches a fish.
Sun Quan's army went out for five days, and Zhou Yu sat outside Moling City for five days, fishing every day. Xu Sheng also came to accompany Zhou Yu for five days. Every day he wanted to say something, but every day he was surrounded by this
There was such a strange atmosphere that I couldn't speak, and it seemed the same today, but I kept the words in my heart and couldn't speak out quickly. The longer the time passed, the stronger the desire to talk.
Seeing Zhou Yu not talking as usual, Xu Sheng knew that as long as he didn't speak, Zhou Yu could never mention this matter for the rest of his life, but this matter was unfair. As a fledgling young man, looking at Zhou Yu's appearance
, Xu Sheng finally made a decision that went against Zhou Yu’s will!
"The commander-in-chief is the commander-in-chief of the three armies. My lord has never had the experience of leading troops. This time sending troops to the Jianghuai River is related to the strength of Jiangdong. Even if the lord wants to lead the troops himself, the commander-in-chief should not be left here!" Xu Sheng felt aggrieved for Zhou Yu's cold treatment by Sun Quan.
In a battle related to Jiangdong's future destiny, Zhou Yu, who is the most capable and capable fighter, is left behind to raise food and fodder. Is this a trap in the brain?
This time Sun Quan decided to send troops to recapture the Jianghuai counties, but Zhou Yu opposed it. Although Jiangdong's military losses were not large, Jiangdong generals suffered heavy casualties in the battle of Guangling. Although they have found a few good generals, compared with Sun Ce, they are obviously
It is far from enough. What Jiangdong should do at this time is to recuperate and accumulate strength.
Sun Quan had just stabilized the political power in Jiangdong, so it would be too risky to send troops at this time. If he could win, it would be good, and he could establish Sun Quan's military prestige and become the third hero after his father and brother.
But what if you miss?
Even if Jiangdong does not recover from this, it will lose the qualification to compete in the world in the next few years. If it wins, it will only gain the land of Jianghuai, but the risk of defeat is Jiangdong's future. Although the probability of defeat is indeed small, it is not impossible. This is
The main reason why Zhou Yu didn't want to fight this battle was that he couldn't afford to lose, no matter how great his chances of winning were.
And on the other hand, although the battle between Cao and Lu is indeed an opportunity in Zhou Yu's view, it may also become the key to bringing down Jiangdong. At least it is not the biggest opportunity. Whether it is Lu Shengcao or Cao Shenglu, they will form a dominant force on the north bank.
The huge political power in the three states, and Jiangdong taking over Jianghuai at this time, will become a thorn in the side of the final winner.
By then, Jiangdong will have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources into Jianghuai. It may seem that the territory is expanding, but it will lose development time.
But this is not the key. The key is Yuan Shao further north. There must be a battle between the two major regimes. That is the best time for Jiangdong to take action and prematurely participate in the game of competition between princes.
If in the end Cao or Lu, after gaining control of the Central Plains, want to remove the threat from the Jianghuai area at all costs, Jiangdong will lose a lot of vitality. When the two major political powers in the north confront each other, Jiangdong will lose the best opportunity to rise. And if at this time
If they don't take action, no matter who wins in the end, the strategic focus will move north in order to prepare for the decisive battle with Yuan Shao. They will seize the Jianghuai River without any effort. They can even take advantage of the situation to seize the Central Plains when the two major forces in the north and south are losing.
Although there are also risks, the latter has smaller risks, and the benefits of success are obviously greater, so Zhou Yu is opposed to sending troops at this time.
However, Zhou Yu's opposition obviously failed to stop Sun Quan, and even had a faint stimulating effect, which further convinced Sun Quan to send troops. After comforting Zhou Yu, Sun Quan decided to send troops and arranged for Zhou Yu to guard the rear.
Sometimes seemingly stupid decisions have considerations that others don't know. For example, Sun Quan's decision to send troops to capture Jianghuai is actually secondary. The main thing is that Sun Quan wants to use this battle to gain military prestige and completely defeat the enemy.
Zhou Yu's influence on Jiangdong was removed. From now on, Jiangdong will only have its lord Sun Quan, and Zhou Yu will only be a general in Sun Quan's hands rather than a commander-in-chief of the three armies!
"Wen Xiang." Zhou Yu naturally understood these issues, so he didn't want to talk about it. This is why he used this method to force Xu Sheng into speechlessness these days.
Unfortunately, in the end, he couldn't help but let him say it. Zhou Yu could only sigh, then looked at Xu Sheng seriously and said: "Jiangdong is the lord's Jiangdong, and the three armies are also the lord's three armies. There has never been a commander-in-chief of the three armies. I am just a commander-in-chief."
Xu Sheng was an outsider. He fled from Xuzhou to Jiangdong in his early years. He was young at that time and had not yet made his mark. He was not prominent in Sun Ce's army. However, after Sun Ce died in the battle, Taishi Ci, Huang Gai and other brave generals died in the battle,
Young and talented generals like Xu Sheng gradually became apparent.
Perhaps because he had been with Sun Ce for a long time, Xu Sheng was closer to Zhou Yu, but Zhou Yu knew that if this closeness was not dealt with in time, it might kill Xu Sheng in the future, so he spoke up at this time.
As for myself, I have nothing to complain about. Now that Sun Quan is in power, he will definitely suppress him, an important minister of the former dynasty. Even if this important minister of the former dynasty did not show any disrespect to Sun Quan and was even respectful to Sun Quan, he would not be willing to do anything to Sun Quan.
He said that Zhou Yu's influence is a threat, and it has nothing to do with your attitude towards him. It is impossible for him to trust Zhou Yu before Zhou Yu's influence is reduced.
How is it possible to say that he has no resentment in his heart? Zhou Yu is also a human being. How could he not have any resentment when being targeted like this? But he can also understand Sun Quan's actions, and he feels guilty for the Sun family. He feels that he has a certain responsibility for Sun Ce's death.
, so Zhou Yu never expressed the slightest dissatisfaction with Sun Quan's various weakening and suppression.
Xu Sheng was obviously a little unconvinced. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a speedboat in the distance coming from the river quickly and soon arrived at Zhou Yu's place.
"Captain!" The soldiers on the clipper came nearby, jumped off the clipper and landed on the shore. They clasped their fists and said to Zhou Yu: "My lord, I will summon the governor for my humble duty."
"Oh?" A smile appeared on Zhou Yu's face: "How is the battle going?"
For Zhou Yu, since he couldn't stop Sun Quan from sending troops, it would be better if he could win. Although this would make Sun Quan appear to be wise and powerful, it would make him look like a clown, but so what? It doesn't matter.
As long as he can win this battle and seize the two counties of Jianghuai, Sun Quan will have a military power that is not inferior to that of Sun Ce. By then, he will truly be in charge of Jiangdong. He believes that Jiangdong will get better and better.
As for the next counterattack against Cao Cao or Lu Bu, as long as it lasts for a while and Yuan Shao starts to make some moves, they naturally cannot put all their energy here!
"Back to the Governor, our army captured Ruxukou yesterday. The Jianghuai army tried to intercept our army on the river several times, but was defeated by our army. Now it has retreated to Hefei. My lord has led his army to land today.
Prepare to capture Hefei." The messenger bowed.
"Ashore!?" Zhou Yu keenly noticed something was wrong: "My lord has been fighting with the enemy for four days. Can you remember how many enemy troops you killed?"
"This..." The soldier shook his head blankly. This fact has not been recorded, but it is an indisputable fact that Sun Quan has won consecutive battles since he entered Ruxukou.
"Tell the lord that the advantage of our army lies in water warfare and land warfare... Forget it, follow me back. I want to write a letter to the lord, and you will send the reply back to me later." Zhou Yu stood up with a serious look on his face and took it with him.
The soldier arrived at the nearby two tents and took the bamboo slips. Zhou Yu quickly wrote a letter, dried the ink, and handed it to the soldier: "Send it to the Lord as soon as possible."
"Here!" the soldier agreed, took the letter and left.
Zhou Yu walked all the way to the shore and did not move for a long time until the clipper disappeared from sight.
"Commander, why are you so worried?" Xu Sheng looked at Zhou Yu in confusion. He didn't hear anything wrong. The main force of the Jianghuai Army had already moved north. Isn't it normal for Sun Quan to advance with great success after attacking Ruxukou?
"I have nothing to do with Chu Nan, but judging from the way this person wiped out the Jianghuai River last year, this person acted quite steadily. Even if he wants to send troops, the rear area cannot be completely unprepared, and he should even be fully prepared."
Zhou Yu considered it and said: "I wouldn't be surprised if my lord had a narrow victory, but now he is making great progress all the way, which always makes people a little uneasy!"
Having said this, Zhou Yu sighed and said, "I hope it's me who is overly concerned, but Wen Xiang."
"Here!" Xu Sheng quickly looked at Zhou Yu and said solemnly: "Please give me the command, Governor."
"Then Chu Nan has a saying that is right. In everything, defeat is calculated before victory is calculated. You go and gather as many soldiers as possible and prepare ships. I will teach you a simple water formation in the next few days. This formation is combined with some strange sects.
It is made based on the principles, although it is not as powerful as Qimen Dunjia, but it is most suitable for water fighting. If you can practice it, looking at the world today, there will be few people who can be your opponent in water fighting."
Xu Sheng knew that Zhou Yu was worried about the safety of the front line, but did not want to arouse Sun Quan's suspicion and did not dare to send troops rashly, so he planned to assemble a group of troops here on the pretext of military training to support Sun Quan at any time.
"Here!" Xu Sheng still loudly accepted the order, even feeling a little happy. After all, Zhou Yu's skills were the best in Jiangdong. He could teach him even just one and a half moves, which would be enough for him to benefit from endlessly.
At present, Xu Sheng, in accordance with Zhou Yu's request, mobilized 800 elite troops and 200 walking boats to practice naval battle formations on the river bank in the name of military training.