Vol 2 Chapter 2660: Opening the country to drive away tigers and devour wolves, Sun Ce VS Sun Liu
Chapter 2660: Opening the country to drive away tigers and devour wolves, Sun Ce VS Sun Liu (Part 2)
Chapter 2656: Opening the country to drive away tigers and devour wolves, Sun Ce VS Sun Liu (Part 2)
The news that Chu State suddenly launched an army to attack Wu forced Sun Ce to suspend his plan to attack Wu County. After all, things had to be prioritized.
Liu Xiu's 350,000 Chu troops attacked Wu, which brought the country of Wu to the danger of national subjugation. At this time, Sun Ce held the idea that he must first pacify the country when fighting foreign countries, so he really didn't distinguish between the importance and the importance during the Anti-Japanese War. Chang Kaishen is no different.
Today, after nearly two years of cultivation, although it has been reluctant to slow down from the defeat of Lujiang, the total strength of the country is only 330,000, let alone the state of the division of Sun Ce and Sun Quan.
After Sun Quan fled back to Wu County, he issued an edict from King Qin and gained the support of Wu County, Kuaiji, Linhai, and Dongyang County.
Sun Ceyue was also not idle. After seizing Jianye, he first ordered Sun Wu and Wu Zixu to take over the military power in Lujiang and Yuzhang. Later, he ordered Sun Bin and Lu Su to take charge of Jianye, appease and recruit powerful generals from all sides, and also achieved considerable results. results.
The garrisons in Yuzhang and Lujiang were all Sun Wu's old troops. Sun Wu and Wu Zixu held Sun Quan's edict and went to take over the army without encountering any obstacles at all.
The garrison in both places, from generals to ordinary soldiers, all hoped that Sun Wu would come back. Naturally, the garrison generals honestly handed over their military power. This also allowed Sun Wu and Wu Zixu to easily take over the hundreds of thousands of troops in Lujiang and Yuzhang.
With more than 100,000 garrison troops in hand, and the capital Jianye and its surrounding cities also under Sun Ce's control, the three counties of Danyang, Lujiang, and Yuzhang in the central and western parts of the Wu Kingdom were basically under Sun Ce's control.
As for Bo Pei, the governor of Panyang, and Xu Wen, the governor of Pengze, they were both from Jiangdong aristocratic families, and they were both promoted to positions by Sun Quan. Logically speaking, they should be loyal to Sun Quan.
But as prefects, they only control part of the military power in the two counties, and most of the military power is in the hands of the garrison.
However, Pan Yang's guard Han Qinhu and Peng Ze's guard Tian Ji both fell to Sun Ce under the influence of Sun Bin.
Xu Wen and Bo Pi, who had few troops in their hands, would have been defeated by Han Qinhu and Tian Ji without Sun Ce taking action if they dared to side with Sun Quan, so they could only reluctantly side with Sun Ce.
At this point, the situation in Jiangdong has been completely clear, and the ten counties of the Wu Kingdom have been completely divided. The five western counties belong to Sun Ce, and the four eastern counties belong to Sun Quan. Only Yizhou County is still waiting and watching, and the station far away in Yingzhou has not yet received news.
Although Sun Ce controlled the five counties in the central and western parts of the Wu Kingdom, his time in power was still too short after all, and he did not have much time to organize, so there were still some city and garrison guards under his command who were loyal to Sun Quan.
But in general, it is harmless. After all, the number of troops in the hands of these people is too small, and it will basically not have much impact on the overall situation.
At present, the number of troops directly in Sun Ce's hands does not exceed 220,000 at most, and most of them are scattered in Lujiang, Yuzhang, and Danyang. However, the invading Chu army has as many as 350,000 troops.
With the troops in Sun Ce's hands, he can barely protect himself. If he still fights with Sun Quan, he is really looking for death. Sooner or later, Liu Xiu will defeat him one by one.
Sun Ce is a man who has an overall view of the situation, and with Sun Bin admonishing him, he naturally knows what to do and what not to do, so he had to give up the idea of conquering Wu County eastward and instead first deal with the invading Chu army on the western front.
Wu and Chu have been attacking each other for many years. Wu has always attacked and Chu has defended, so Wu's defense against Chu is not very strong.
The reason for this situation is naturally that the Wu State is on the offensive side and has more victories than defeats. There is also the invincible Sun Wu, so there is no need to defend.
But until Sun Ce was defeated and captured in Lujiang, and the strength gap between Wu and Chu was completely widened, Sun Jian was directly beaten to his senses, making him realize that in the future battle between Wu and Chu, Wu would probably be on the defensive side. Only then did the defenses on the Western Front begin to be gradually strengthened.
After Sun Quan succeeded to the throne, although he negated most of Sun Jian's national policies, he implemented the plan to strengthen the defense on the western front. However, he also deprived Sun Wu and Wu Zixu of their military power on the same grounds.
Now Wu State has built a complete defense line against Chu on the front lines of Lujiang and Yuzhang in the west. Even if the invading Chu State is twice as large as itself, it will be impossible to break through Wu State's defense line in the short term, which is enough to support the reinforcements from the rear. .
But this time the Chu State invaded not from two groups, but from four groups. In addition to the two counties of Lujiang and Yuzhang, there were also the two counties of Panyang and Kuaiji, which were also attacked by the Chu State.
Even if Wu can defend the western front and block most of the invading Chu troops, what will the other two Chu kings do?
Under Sun Bin's rational analysis, Sun Ce also realized the seriousness of the problem. Facing the 350,000 Chu troops invading from four directions, it would be difficult to cope with the danger of national subjugation with only the troops at his disposal. He must Only by joining forces with his second brother Sun Quan could he escape this disaster.
Judging from Sun Ce's understanding of Sun Quan, Sun Quan now probably wishes he could fight Liu Xiu so that both sides would lose, and then stand up to reorganize the situation.
It is not surprising that Sun Quan would have this idea, but it is not that Sun Ce looks down on Sun Quan, but that Sun Quan's military talent is really too poor. He couldn't defeat the Japanese pirates when he had an absolute advantage, let alone the stronger Chu army now.
So, if he were defeated, Sun Quan would definitely not be Liu Xiu's opponent, and it would only be a matter of time before Wu was destroyed.
Only when Sun Ce and Sun Quan join forces, and Wu is united internally, and unites externally, can it be possible to overcome this crisis of national subjugation.
But the biggest question now is that Sun Ce is willing to put aside his grudges and join forces with Sun Quan, but is Sun Quan willing to ignore the past grievances and join forces with Sun Ce to repel the Chu army?
You must know that Sun Ce's power is much stronger than that of Sun Quan. If the Chu army had not suddenly attacked Wu, Sun Ce would have sent troops to attack Wu Commandery.
Sun Quan escaped because of the Chu army's attack on Wu. Once the Chu army was defeated, the two brothers would definitely meet each other. With Sun Quan's ability and strength, how could he be Sun Ce's opponent? It's the end of Sun Quan.
Hence, Sun Quan will most likely not be willing.
Most people, including Sun Ce, felt that Sun Quan would not be willing, but Sun Bin still said: "There is no need to completely join forces with Sun Quan, as long as Sun Quan does not hold back or cause trouble when our army confronts the Chu army.
As for the four invading Chu armies, our army blocked the three Chu armies of Lujiang, Yuzhang, and Panyang, and left the Kuaiji route to Sun Quan to deal with.
Our army and Sun Quan each fight their own way without interfering with each other, so Sun Quan will definitely not refuse.
If Sun Quan refuses even this, it is enough to show that he has no responsibility at all. Pang Juan, Zheng Zhilong and others who are still watching will definitely be completely disappointed with him and turn to their lord's side. "
Sun Ce couldn't help but nodded after hearing this.
Sun Quan's strength is not as good as his own. If he and himself are asked to share risks, Sun Quan, who is already weak, will definitely not agree. But if Sun Quan is only allowed to block the four Chu armies and the 70,000 Chu troops on the south route, Sun Quan's shrewdness should not refuse, because he cannot afford the price of refusal.
Although Sun Ce took over most of the Kingdom of Wu, he did not officially claim the title of king. The nominal king of the Kingdom of Wu was still Sun Quan.
Now Chu's 350,000-strong army is invading with the intention of destroying Wu. If Sun Quan, the king of Wu, does not contribute at all and even causes trouble for Sun Ce, it is enough to show that he has no responsibility at all.
If this is true, not only Pang Juan, Zheng Zhilong and other generals who have not expressed their opinions will be disappointed in him, but also many people in the four eastern counties who clearly support him will be disappointed in him.
Hence, if Sun Quan dared to refuse, he would be wasting his martial arts skills.
I have to say that Sun Bin's plan was a conspiracy. It hit Sun Quan's seven inches directly and gave Sun Quan no other choice at all.
As long as Sun Quan still wants to be the king of Wu, he cannot turn a blind eye to the invading Chu army and must contribute as much force as possible. Moreover, when Sun Ce and Liu Xiu are dueling, at least he cannot openly hinder Sun Ce.
After Sun Ce understood the method, he felt that it was very comfortable for any monarch to have a resourceful counselor to assist him.
Smart counselors can help the monarch make fewer mistakes and take fewer detours, and achieve the greatest promise at the lowest cost.
Sun Ce has a deep understanding of this. This coup is the best example.
“No wonder Ying Hao is invincible. With the help of many top advisers such as Zhang Liang, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, etc., it is difficult for Ying Hao to make mistakes even if he wants to.”
Sun Ce secretly thought to himself and was a little puzzled at the same time. After all, Sun Bin was so resourceful and he was from the Sun family clan. Why didn't his father reuse him?
“With my father’s ability to recognize people, I shouldn’t miss the pearl of Sun Bin.”
Sun Ce really couldn't figure out the reason, so he was going to find another opportunity to ask Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and other veteran generals.
“Mr. Zibu, you will be the envoy this time to go to Wu County to persuade Sun Quan.” Sun Ce ordered.
Zhang Zhao didn't even think about it and said decisively: "Zhang Zhao will definitely live up to the expectations of the eldest son."
Sun Ce nodded, and then ordered: "Send an order, order Sun Wu to be the commander-in-chief, and lead the three armies of Yuzhang, Pan Yang, and Pengze, a force of 150,000, to sit in Yuzhang County to resist the two Chu armies of Liu Xiu and Cao Shen. .
Wu Zixu was appointed as the governor-general of Lujiang and led an army of 50,000 to guard Lujiang County to resist Guo Ziyi's northern army. "
Sun Ce’s total strength was only 220,000, but he sent 200,000 troops to fight against Chu, leaving 20,000 troops for Jianye, which was obviously used to defend against Sun Quan.
Although if Sun Quan wants to show off his face, it is impossible to send troops to sneak attack Sun Ce's rear when Sun Ce and Liu Xiu go to war, but what if?
Sun Quan is a man who can do such treasonous things as patricide. Ordinary people's thinking and logic will not work on him.
It would be really tragic if during the decisive battle between Sun Ce and Liu Xiu, Sun Quan attacked Sun Ce's rear and captured Jianye, causing Sun Ce's food route to be cut off, so Sun Ce had to take precautions.
In addition, Sun Ce also ordered an emergency expansion of the army, armed and trained the people, and prepared for the worst.
Sun Quan really didn’t intend to intervene at first, and asked Sun Ce to fight Liu Xiu in a fight where both sides would suffer losses. However, he did not expect that Liu Xiu would launch four armies to attack Wu at the same time, and Ma Yuan of the Southern Route Army would attack Kuaiji County.
At this time, Sun Ce sent Zhang Zhao to ask for a temporary truce between the two sides, and asked Sun Quan to block Ma Yuan's troops to protect Wu.
Sun Quan simply cannot refuse such a request. If he refuses, he will definitely be heartbroken.
“Damn it, this is a conspiracy, a naked conspiracy.”
Sun Quan gritted his teeth and said, no matter how unwilling he was, he could only swallow this bitter pill and send troops to block Ma Yuan's army. After all, he was still the king of Wu.
If it were just Sun Quan, Sun Ce might be able to get his wish, but unfortunately there is Sima Yi beside Sun Quan, so it is naturally impossible for Wu to unite so easily.
“My lord, Sun Wu has never lost a battle against Chu. Even if his troops are at a disadvantage now, it may not be enough to enter, but it should be more than enough to defend Yuzhang.
Once Sun Wu delayed the Chu army until they ran out of food and retreated, Sun Ce would definitely turn his guns and send troops to conquer Wu Commandery eastward. By then, I'm afraid we would all be killed by Sun Ce. "
Sima Yi's words spoke to Sun Quan's heart. What he wanted was never to defeat Chu, but to make both Liu Xiu and Sun Ce suffer losses, so that he could profit from it. However, it seems that this goal may be difficult to achieve at present.
Sun Quan had to stop Ma Yuan's southern route army, but without this Chu army, Sun Ce's pressure would be much lighter. With the abilities of Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Sun Ce and others, they might be able to resist the three routes. Maybe even the Chu army.
If Sun Ce really defeated the Chu army and the main force still remained, it would be the end of Sun Quan.
Sun Quan was really panicking now. After all, sending troops to block Ma Yuan and sharing the pressure for Sun Ce would be a slow suicide, while not sending troops would be a waste of martial arts.
Whether he sends troops or not, it is a bad thing for Sun Quan. How can he not panic?
Under Sima Yi's suggestion, Sun Quan decided to take a dangerous approach, but he had to protect Kuaiji, so he had to find another way.
Sun Quan secretly sent an order to Bo Pu, the governor of Panyang, asking him to voluntarily abandon the south gate and Nancheng of Panyang County, and take the initiative of Cao Shen's troops to enter Panyang, in order to achieve the purpose of driving away tigers and devouring wolves.
In this case, even if Sun Wu can defend Yuzhang, he will definitely suffer heavy losses, and Sun Quan can distance himself from the relationship and hide in Wu County in the rear to reap the benefits.