Yuan Shang succeeded to the throne of Wei King, Yuan Tan must be busy competing with his good brother for the throne, and he must not have the intention to look south.
As for Guanzhong, now that Ma Teng and Han Sui have ceased fighting and the two have reconciled, Cao Cao has to guard against the Xiliang army and also wants to advance eastward to gain the benefits of Yuan Shao's death, so naturally he has no intention of taking care of Yan Liang.
As for Soochow, Sun Quan was busy putting down the Shanyue Rebellion, Zhou Yu had also returned to Wuzhong to recuperate, Chai Sang's Wu army had been reduced to less than 10,000, and the governor was Lu Su, the peacemaker, and the Wu people posed a threat to Jiangxia.
, has also been reduced to the lowest level.
The external environment that Yan Liang is facing now has never been so comfortable. If he doesn't take the opportunity to take Jiangling at this time, how long will it take?
That day Yan Liang and his counselors made a plan to take Jiangling south, and began to quickly assemble troops and horses, allocate grain and grass, and only waited for the end of spring plowing in half a month before sending troops south immediately.
As for the plan to capture Jiangling, it was not that complicated. Naturally, the troops were divided into two groups, one going south from Xiangyang, and the other heading directly to Jiangling via Dangyang Avenue.
The other way is naturally to use the navy to go west from Xiakou and march to Jiangling by water.
After deciding on the general strategy, Yan Liang suddenly discovered that he still faced a big problem, that is, he lacked a capable navy general.
To attack Xiakou by land and water, Gan Ning would naturally be needed to lead the naval force. As for Xiakou, with many favors left behind, the city could also be secured.
However, there were still 10,000 Wu people on Chai Sang's side. For safety reasons, Yan Liang had to keep some naval forces on guard.
Yan Liang was not afraid that the Wu would take the opportunity to attack Xiakou. What he was afraid of was that the Wu would block the Han River and cut off his food route south.
Although Manchong defended the city, he was not good at commanding the navy. It was obviously inappropriate for him to command the remaining navy to ensure the smooth flow of water transportation.
This means that in addition to Gan Ning, Yan Liang also needs a good warrior who is proficient in water warfare.
It's a pity that apart from Gan Ning, there is no one under Yan Liang who is good at water combat.
Just when he was worried about the person to stay in Xiakou, Yan Liang's eyes lit up and he suddenly thought of someone.
"Grandma, I've been busy taking concubines these days, but I forgot that I still have such a treasure. Come on, prepare a horse."
Yan Liang, suddenly enlightened, came out of the military mansion and rode straight to the military camp in the south of the city.
This camp in the south of the city is different from other camps. To be precise, it is a prisoner camp. The Xiliang Army, Yuan Army, Jingzhou Army, and Wu Army are all detained here.
These prisoners who had not yet made up their minds to surrender to Yan Liang were placed here and received ideological education every day.
In order to persuade these prisoners to surrender, under Yan Liang's instructions, Xu You specially selected some eloquent people from the new army who surrendered. Then, he distributed the prisoners from the same hometown to them according to their place of origin. Let him take advantage of the closeness of the fellow villagers.
Provide persuasion and education to captives from all over the world.
Yan Liang entered the camp and went straight to the gathering area where Wu prisoners were gathered.
When he walked into the clean barracks, he saw that the young general was boringly teasing ants on the ground with tree branches.
He also saw many captives, Yan Liang, and many of his generals were born as captives.
When they were prisoners, all of them were either sad or generous. It was the first time that Yan Liang encountered a prisoner who was so bored that he played with ants.
The same prisoner, but this person is indeed a little different from ordinary people.
Yan Liang's mouth moved slightly and he said loudly: "Lu Ziming, are ants fun?"
Lu Meng was stunned, and when he raised his head, he realized that Yan Liang had come in.
He stood up, threw the branch away, cupped his hands and said with a wry smile: "It turns out to be General Yan, you locked Lu up here and had to eat and sleep all day long. If you don't have some fun, wouldn't you be bored to death?"
"
There was a hint of sarcasm in Lu Meng's words. His relaxed and calm manner was very much like that of a general, and Yan Liang admired it quite a lot.
"You don't have to be bored if you want. I will give you a great pleasure now." Yan Liang said and sat down.
Lu Meng's eyes moved slightly, obviously hearing the mysterious sound from Yan Liang's words.
He rolled his eyes, but said calmly: "I wonder what kind of fun Yan Liang wants to give Lu Meng?"
"It's very simple. Submit to me and help me to conquer Jiangling. How about this? It should be more interesting than teasing ants. ()( "
Yan Liang did not mince words and simply stated his purpose.
"General Yan, you want Lu to betray Wu Hou." Lu Meng smiled bitterly and did not refuse on the spot, but he also did not agree.
Lu Meng's clear attitude made Yan Liang confirm that Lu Meng's loyalty to the Sun family was not high at the moment. After this period of imprisonment, his remaining loyalty had been shaken.
Yan Liang did not force him, but asked: "Lu Ziming, I would like to ask you, where do you rank among the generals in Soochow?"
Lu Meng was startled again, and a trace of confusion flashed across his eyes.
"Wu Hou has many good generals under his command, but Lu is just a newcomer with little qualifications. How can he be ranked high?" Lu Meng said silently.
Yan Liang smiled and said, "Then let me ask you another question. Where do you, Lu Ziming, think you should be ranked among the generals of Soochow?"
Hearing these words, a strange look quickly flashed across Lu Meng's originally silent face.
That's a look of confidence.
After being silent for a while, Lu Meng said: "When it comes to martial arts, Meng is ashamed of himself, but when it comes to military strength, Lu Meng can say without shame that looking at the generals in Wuzhong, except for the governor of Zhou, there are not many who can."
Above Lu Meng."
Lu Meng's words and expressions all showed confidence and even a bit of arrogance.
Yan Liang thought that he was right. Lu Meng was indeed a bit arrogant, and arrogant people often have great ambitions.
Lu Meng's ambition was exactly where Yan Liang started.
"Okay, then I will let you do the math. You, Lu Ziming, are confident that you are extremely talented, but among the generals in Jiangdong, you are not even ranked. If you submit to me, if nothing else, I will be able to do it right away.
I want you to become the second most popular person in my navy. Think carefully about who you can follow to get ahead."
Yan Liang has already offered a price. As long as you surrender, he will make you the second navy general.
Of course, with Lu Meng's qualifications and abilities, Yan Liang believes that given time, he will be able to surpass Gan Ning, but right now he has not made any achievements. If Yan Liang lets him surpass Gan Ning, wouldn't it be a chill for Gan Ning, a general who has repeatedly made military exploits?
.
Hearing the word "two", Lu Meng's heart was shocked, and a hint of surprise clearly flashed in his eyes.
He had to admit that Yan Liang's words spoke to his heart, and the conditions offered by Yan Liang were so tempting.
"With his current strength, it will be a matter of time to defeat Liu Qi and completely occupy Jingzhou. If he wants to gain a foothold in Jingzhou by then, he will have to make great efforts to expand the naval army, and he does not have many good naval generals under his command. If I submit to him
Didn’t he suddenly become a minister of Yuan Gong..."
Lu Meng's thoughts were swirling, and he was weighing the pros and cons in his heart.
Yan Liang looked at his expression and knew that Lu Meng was quite shaken.
At that moment, he sneered and said: "The God-given opportunity is right in front of you. Whether you can seize it depends on you, Lu Ziming. Of course, if I can't get such gold as you, I will never let others get it.
"
After finishing his good words, Yan Liang added a threat at the end. The meaning was very clear. If you, Lu Meng, do not submit to me, Yan Liang, you will only die.
Lu Meng's expression was shocked, and he clearly felt the killing intent emanating from Yan Liang. He also knew very well that the hero in front of him would definitely do what he said. If he did not agree to submit, he would turn against him and kill someone in the blink of an eye.
"With both kindness and power, this Yan Ziyi is really a master of attacking the heart..."
Lu Meng sighed secretly in his heart, weighed for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh, cupped his hands and said: "Thanks to the general for not giving up, he values Lu Meng so much. If Lu Meng doesn't know how to praise him, wouldn't he make the world laugh at him?
labor."
In history, one of the four commanders of Soochow finally surrendered to Yan Liang.
Yan Liang was so proud and excited that he couldn't help laughing, stroking his shoulders and saying: "Very good, I like smart people like you who know the current affairs. If I can get a good general like Ziming who is both wise and brave, I won't worry about not being able to win him."
It’s just like Jiangling.”
Lu Meng was very happy to receive such a high evaluation from Yan Liang, and he also felt a sense of happiness to meet Bole.
Overjoyed, Lu Meng suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said: "My lord just said that he wanted to capture Jiangling. I have been bored these days, so I did some research in private. I have some ideas about capturing Jiangling. I don't know whether to talk about it or not."
."
"This Lu Meng has actually been thinking about how to capture Jiangling for a long time. It seems that he has long wanted to surrender, and he is just waiting to propose his plan to me today..."
Yan Liang knew clearly what Lu Meng was thinking, but he looked overjoyed, "It turns out that I have a good plan tomorrow morning, but it doesn't matter."
Lu Meng was in great spirits and his mood immediately became high. He drew circles on the ground with tree branches and drew a simple topographic map.
"General Mo estimates that the total number of lord's troops should be about 50,000, of which at least 5,000 should be left to defend Nanyang, and about 10,000 soldiers and horses should be left in Xiakou. This means that the lord can be used to attack
Jiangling's military strength should be around 35,000."
What Lu Meng said was similar to the deployment of troops decided by Yan Liang and his advisers. This wise general was indeed worthy of his reputation.
When Yan Liang secretly praised him, Lu Meng continued: "As for Liu Qi's Jiangling Army, the total number of troops should be around 25,000, including about 10,000 navy troops. The general guessed that the lord's plan is to use the navy army to counterattack
When advancing from Jiangxi, we must first defeat Huang Zu’s 10,000 naval troops, and then advance by land and water together to encircle Jiangling. I wonder if this is the case?”
Yan Liang nodded and said: "What you said is right. Jiangling is adjacent to the Yangtze River to the south. How can we complete the siege of Jiangling without annihilating Huang Zu's navy?"
At this time, Lu Meng showed a somewhat confident smile, "Although Jiangling is also close to the water, it is quite different from Xiangyang. Huang Zu's naval army will naturally be annihilated, but the general thinks that this sequence is somewhat wrong.
Already."
This Lu Meng was really confident, and he directly dared to deny the plan made by Yan Liang's wise men.
"Interesting..." Yan Liang raised his lips slightly, showing his strong interest. (You are welcome, your support is my biggest motivation.)