In the military mansion, everyone's eyes lit up because of Lu Su's words.
At present, Shouchun's people are panicked and their morale is low. The reinforcements that have been redeployed from Xiapi are still on the way.
To the south, Yan Liang's 50,000-strong army was coming in force. At this time, what could be more satisfying than delaying Yan Liang's attack?
Although Zhou Yu's spirit was refreshed, he remained calm on the surface, and there was even a bit of disapproval in his eyes, as if he didn't believe that Lu Su could come up with any good ideas even though he couldn't do anything about it.
"Zijing, what good advice do you have?" Guan Yu was quite excited. Moreover, as both were old ministers of Jiangdong, Guan Yu's attitude towards Lu Su was much more kind than towards Zhou Yu.
Lu Su then stroked his beard and said with a smile: "All along, we have been thinking about how to repel Yan Liang's attack. Su actually thinks that we have fallen into a misunderstanding. Why don't we change our minds and think about how to get Yan Liang to withdraw his troops on his own initiative?
.”
"Take the initiative to withdraw the troops? Huh, Zijing, you can figure it out. With Yan Liang's current strength, unless he died of a sudden illness, how could he have taken the initiative to withdraw the troops if he had not lost his mind?"
Zhou Yu snorted coldly and showed considerable disdain for what Lu Su said.
Obviously, although Zhou Yu is now on the same front as Lu Su in name, he is forced to do so because he is still full of hostility towards Lu Su in his heart.
"General Zhou, Zijing hasn't finished speaking yet. Why do you reject it outright? General Zhou, don't you have a better plan?" Guan Yu showed displeasure and immediately responded with words.
Now Lu Su has surrendered to Liu Bei and is Guan Yu's adviser. Zhou Yu's ridicule of Lu Su is tantamount to ridiculing himself, as the saying goes, "It depends on the master to beat a dog." The aloof Guan Yu will naturally not allow it.
Zhou Yu was choked by Guan Yu and could not get angry, so he could only snort coldly: "Okay, then I would like to hear what clever plans you have, Zijing."
Being ridiculed repeatedly by Zhou Yu, Lu Su felt uncomfortable. But on the surface, he was calm and did not take it seriously at all.
"Actually, it's not a clever plan. Su was just thinking. Not long after Yan Liangfang took Jiangdong, he moved to Huainan. He must not have many troops left in Jiangdong. Since there are such flaws, why don't we make good use of them." Lu Su
The tone is somewhat mysterious.
Zhou Yu's brows moved slightly, as if he guessed what Lu Su meant, and immediately showed disdain.
"The generals in Jiangdong died and surrendered. The Yan thieves also abolished the system of private soldiers. The powerful generals in Jiangdong no longer have private soldiers. Zijing, you want to provoke the people in Jiangdong Yan Liang to rebel. They have no soldiers in their hands, but how can they
What kind of waves will it cause?"
Facing Zhou Yu's denial, Lu Su smiled lightly and said: "Gong Jin was wrong. Although Jiangdong's powerful people have no private soldiers, Gong Jin should not forget that there is another force that can be used in the land of San Wu."
Another force?
Zhou Yu was suspicious for a moment, then his eyes suddenly moved, "You mean, are you trying to incite the people of Shanyue to rebel?"
Lu Su nodded slightly, with a somewhat proud look on his indifferent face.
Zhou Yu understood, and in his eyes, there was a little less irony towards Lu Su, but a little more recognition.
The Shanyue people are indeed a chess piece that can be used.
The composition of the Shanyue people is actually very complex. In addition to the indigenous pure-blood Shanyue people, there are also many escaped slaves, farmers who did not want to become refugees after bankruptcy, and some lesser powerful people who were suppressed by the local wealthy families and fled into the mountains.
.
These people fled to the mountainous areas of Sanwu and lived and mingled with the Yue people. Over time, they became the Shanyue people today.
For many years, the Han court has been trying to turn the Shanyue people into registered households in the country, but the Shanyue people have always refused to surrender.
At the beginning, Yan Liang used heavy sums of money and promises of empty promises to induce the Shanyue people to rebel, forcing Sun Quan to end his first invasion of Jingzhou.
Nowadays, although Yan Liang has captured Jiangdong, his policy towards the Shanyue people is the same as that of Sun Quan, trying to make the Shanyue people surrender in order to enrich his own population.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Shanyue people, both Yan Liang and Sun Quan were the ones they wanted to resist.
Now Yan Liang's heavy troops are in Huainan, and there are not many troops left in the Sanwu area. This is indeed an opportunity for the Shanyue people to make a comeback.
Zhou Yu's mind was racing with thoughts. Having lived in Jiangdong for a long time, he knew the Shanyue issue very well. Lu Su's strategy indeed gave him a lot of inspiration.
"General Zhou, I don't know what happened in Jiangdong, and I don't know who the Shanyue people are. You were once the governor of Jiangdong. What do you think of Zijing's plan?" Guan Yu asked.
Zhou Yu, who had been silent for a long time, raised his head and nodded reluctantly: "This plan can be tried, but it will require a powerful lobbyist to sneak into Jiangdong with huge sums of money."
Zhou Yu agreed with Lu Su's strategy, but did not praise Lu Su at all, as if this strategy was the same as Lu Su's.
At this time, Kan Ze stood up, cupped his hands and said: "When Ze was an official in Jiangdong, he had many interactions with the Shanyue people. Those Shanyue people also had a good impression of Ze. If Ze is willing to go to Jiangdong, he will be convinced."
The Shanyue people raised troops and caused chaos in the rear of the Yan bandits."
Kan Ze was very resourceful. When he stood up like this, both Zhou Yu and Lu Su nodded slightly.
At that moment, Zhou Yu agreed to Kan Ze's request and ordered him to bring a huge sum of money, disguise himself as a businessman, and sneak into Jiangdong via a detour.
At the same time, Guan Yu transferred another five thousand soldiers and horses from Xuzhou to reinforce Shouchun, preparing to defend the city and fight Yan Liang to the end.
…
Three days later, Yan Liang's 50,000-strong army by land and water crossed Shaopi and marched to the south of Shouchun City in a mighty manner.
At this time, Ling Tong's troops also captured Lu'an, which had a weak military force, eliminating the threat on its flanks, and led 10,000 troops to attack Shouchun.
Yan Liang, who arrived at the Shouchun front line, chose a dangerous location ten miles southeast of Shouchun City and established a stronghold, forming a north-south confrontation with the Zhou and Liu coalition forces.
At this time, there were still 6,000 Zhou troops in Shouchun City, and the Guan Yu dry camp in the east of the city had increased its troops to 10,000.
With 16,000 men against Yan Liang's nearly 60,000 men, in terms of sheer strength, the Zhou and Liu coalition forces were at a considerable disadvantage.
However, the advantage of Zhou Yu and Guan Yu lies in having a strong city like Shoucheng as their greatest reliance.
After Zhou Yu captured Shouchun that year, Sun Quan used Huainan's manpower to reinforce and repair Shouchun City in order to build it into a base for his northward march into the Central Plains.
After several years of construction, Shouchun City is as strong as any fortified city in the world. The unreachable city wall alone is one-third higher than the original Moling City.
With Jiancheng as its support and Xuzhou as its back in the north, there was an endless supply of grain and grass, which was continuously transported south from the Sishui River and transported to Shouchun by the Huaihe River.
Obviously, Zhou Yu was determined to defend Shouchun just because he had calculated these advantages.
Of course, Zhou Yu had no choice. If Shouchun was lost, he would have no choice but to live and die with the city, and he would have no choice but to flee to Xuzhou with Guan Yu.
And Zhou Yu, who lost his territory, would have no choice but to become Liu Bei's general.
How could the arrogant Zhou Yu be willing to become a subordinate of a man who weaves mats and sells shoes? Even without Guan Yu's assistance, he would definitely defend Shouchun.
Zhou Yu and Guan Yu put into a defensive posture. Yan Liang was now in a bit of trouble.
Although his morale was high and his troops were several times larger than the enemy's, Yan Liang had no good solution when facing the enemies who were defending Yicheng.
After the camp was set up, Yan Liang launched several attacks on Guan Yu's dry camp with superior force. However, Guan Yu successfully repelled Yan Liang's several attacks by relying on the strength of the camp and his excellent ability to command troops.
Guan Yu could not hold on, so Yan Liang resorted to provoking the generals again, trying to induce Guan Yu to go out of the camp to fight in a rage.
But after Guan Yu experienced the failure last time, he learned the lesson this time. He simply tore up the challenge letter sent by Yan Liang to avoid getting angry after reading it.
As for Yan Liang's provocation outside the camp, Guan Yu just pretended not to see it, held back his breath, and just refused to fight like a frightened tortoise.
Unconsciously, at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the weather was getting colder, and the fierce battle in Shouchun had lasted for nearly a month.
In this month, the situation in the north has also been undergoing drastic changes.
Han Meng's surrender allowed Liu Bei to capture Luoyang without any effort. Surprised, Liu Bei immediately raised his troops to the west and dispatched tens of thousands of troops into Henan County and Hanoi County on the other side.
Liu Bei stole Luoyang and blocked Cao Cao's eastward advance route. Cao Cao was very angry and sent troops to Hanoi County and launched several tentative attacks.
Liu Bei showed no sign of weakness, and stationed Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun at key points to counterattack the invading Cao Cao.
Cao and Liu were at war with each other on the Luoyang front line.
At this time, Yuan Tan in the north concentrated his army and launched a more violent attack on Yuan Shang who was trapped on the front line of Julu. Yuan Shang lost consecutive battles and his territory was shrinking day by day.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei had a conflict, which Yan Liang was naturally happy to see.
Now Liu Bei is restrained by Cao Cao, and his main force is concentrated in the north, so he has no time to look south. Yan Liang has enough time to deal with Zhou Yu and Guan Yu.
But at the military meeting that day, an urgent report came from Jiangdong, which suddenly hit the high spirits of the generals present.
According to Xu You's urgent report, the Shanyue people who had been entrenched in the mountains and had been silent for many years suddenly rebelled. Tens of thousands of Shanyue troops came out of the mountains and launched attacks on Danyang, Poyang, Kuaiji and other counties.
Although Wei Yan and Lu Xun's troops who stayed in Jiangdong launched a resolute counterattack against the Shanyue army, they were unable to cope due to the lack of troops and the wide range of counties attacked by the Shanyue people.
"Lord, there is absolutely no room for failure in the hinterland of Jiangdong. We must send troops back as soon as possible for reinforcements," Ling Tong said urgently.
Zhu Huan also said: "It is winter now. Our southern soldiers are not suitable for the cold winter in the north. The Shouchun battle has made no progress. The mountains and rivers in the east of the Yangtze River have rebelled again. According to the last general's opinion, it is better to return to the east of the Yangtze River to quell the rebellion in the coming year."
When spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, it is not too late to capture Shouchun again."
Zhu Huan's proposal won the support of many generals, especially the generals of Jiangdong.
At this time, Yan Liang turned his attention to Pang Tong, "Commander Shiyuan, what do you think of the sudden rebellion in Shanyue?"
"Tong Tong believes that the rebellion of the Shanyue people at this time was probably secretly instigated by Zhou Yu. It would indeed be a headache for this group of Yue people to rebel, but..."
Pang Tong changed the topic, and a sly smile flashed in his eyes, "But Tong secretly believes that Shanyue's rebellion also gave the lord an excellent opportunity. Now is the time to implement the lord's plan."
After being reminded by Pang Tong, Yan Liang, who was as calm as water, felt slightly shaken.
After pondering for a moment, Yan Liang's stern face revealed a cold and sly smile just like Pang Tong's. (To be continued.)