Chapter 657: Jingzhou Stalemate
"So, considering the current situation, I would like to ask Your Majesty to get up and return to the capital to take charge!"
Lu Kang cupped his hands and made his final suggestion to Sun Quan in a deep voice.
The reason why Soochow has such fighting spirit is because the battle line is at the doorstep. But if something goes wrong before the battle at Ruxuwu begins, the soldiers may no longer have the will to fight.
Therefore, no matter what, priority must be given to stabilizing the rear to ensure that the families of the soldiers are not threatened.
After Lu Kang handed over his proposal, Zhuge Ke also handed over his hand and persuaded Sun Quan to return to Jianye. The entire Soochow generals in Ruxuwu tried to persuade Sun Quan in the end.
"But...if I return to Jianye with the imperial army, what will you do if you cannot resist the Shu army?"
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. Although Ma Su is good at fighting, our Soochow soldiers are not vegetarians. Ruxuwu city defense is strong, no matter what, Ma Su will not let him attack." Zhuge Ke relieved Sun Quan of this worry, but at the same time he was afraid of Sun Quan. If he didn’t believe it, he added additionally.
"What's more, Ma Di himself is now a lot older, and he is no longer the Butcher of Guanxi."
"Especially now, even if he still wants to use the knife, these Xishu tribes will have to face the situation of acclimatization. At least this time, even if Ma Di has the help of ghosts and gods, it is impossible to break through Ruxuwu!"
Zhuge Ke's explanation finally silenced Sun Quan. After hesitating for a long time, Sun Quan slowly nodded and said,
"In this case, Ruxuwu will be left to you all! I... will go back to Jianye to take charge of the overall situation first!"
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After being persuaded by Lu Kang, Zhuge Ke, Lu Zheng and other Dongwu generals, Sun Quan finally left Ruxuwu. As Sun Quan returned south with 20,000 forbidden troops, the Soochow tribe also gave up and continued to harass.
There are only a few people left in the Communist Party, and their strength is almost the same as that of the Han army. If the consumption continues, Lu Kang will no longer be sure to defend the city in front of Ma Su.
Fortunately, for now, Ma Su has no interest in storming Ruxuwu. Now he is urging the Han army to speed up the construction of the city, and at the same time he is sending people to inquire about the news in Jingzhou.
Yangzhou's Yangtze River defense system requires a complete river as a barrier. It is necessary to hold the entire Yangtze River from Jiangling in the west to Wujun in the east.
But now Jiangling has been captured by the Han army, and Ji Han's navy has been training in the Jingzhou area for several years. According to Ma Su's feeling, no matter what happens now, he should put some pressure on Soochow in Jingzhou, right?
However, the news from Jingzhou still disappointed Ma Su. Although Ji Han had invested heavily in the navy over the years, the results did not meet expectations.
In June, when Ma Su went south to threaten Ruxuwu, Li Hui, the governor of Jingzhou, sent 20,000 naval troops eastward from Xiangyang to Jiangling to threaten Xiakou. The two sides fought on the border of Jiangxia, but in the end the Han army suffered a hidden loss, and Li Hui himself was almost hit by an arrow.
During the Jiangxia Water War, Luo Tong, the new naval commander of Jiangdong, rose to fame. Under his command, Li Hui was even more blocked and had no choice.
It is still the period of the Three Kingdoms, and the area of Yunmengze in the east of Nanjun is still very large. Because of the influence of this swamp, it was difficult for the Han army to threaten Xiakou by land.
Therefore, after losing the water battle, it would be difficult for Jingzhou to regain Xiakou.
This news gave Ma Di a headache. At present, although Jiangling has been recovered, the threat to Yangzhou is still limited. Unless there are talents who are good at water warfare, it will be difficult for Jingzhou to contain enough power of Soochow.
But right now, he really can't find any good talents to provide to Jingzhou. After all, most of Ji Han's talents gave priority to participating in the Northern Expedition, and few went to delve into water warfare.
"This is indeed a bit difficult to handle..."
Ma Su shook his head, feeling very dissatisfied with Jingzhou's progress. After pondering for a while, he looked at Liu Yindao beside him.
"Xiuren, you and Ju Wei have been guarding Jingzhou all year round. Is there anyone who is good at water warfare that you can recommend?"
"General, no." Liu Yin smiled bitterly, shook his head and replied.
"Water warfare requires extremely high quality of soldiers, and sufficient warships are needed to maintain combat effectiveness... Under such circumstances, it is still difficult to close the gap between us and the Soochow Navy."
"Is that so?" Ma Su touched his chin and sighed helplessly.
"In that case, I'd better write a letter to Luoyang and leave this matter to the Prime Minister."
"The prime minister is supporting the prince in Luoyang to oversee Guandong. I think he should be able to find a few talents who are good at water warfare, right?"
Ma Su has already developed a conditioned reflex. Whenever there is something that cannot be completed in a short time, he will habitually send it to Zhuge Liang. Anyway, he is responsible for the frontline battles, so he still has little experience in this kind of personnel appointment and dismissal.
And every time Ma Su brought up a difficult problem, Zhuge Liang took it over and solved it for Ma Su quickly.
It can only be said that he is worthy of being the same through the ages, and his government affairs ability and efficiency are indeed unparalleled in the world.
After discussing the issue of Jingzhou, Ma Su asked about the current progress of the city. In the past few days, Soochow has basically given up harassment outside the city, and the progress of the Han army has suddenly increased.
"It's progressing very fast. If Soochow doesn't harass us anymore, it will only take another half a month for our city to be initially completed." Liu Yin nodded and offered his hand to Ma Su.
"It will take another half a month... but it's still worth the wait." Ma Su touched his chin, thinking deeply, and said to himself.
Although it has exceeded the original planned time, the rear can still hold on. At most, Yu and Xuzhou will have to donate blood for half a month, and the loss is still within an acceptable range.
As long as the city is built, all problems will be solved. The Han army can be stationed at the gate of Ruxuwu for a long time, and the grain road can be transported smoothly to the Yangtze River.
These will be of great help to the future southward movement, so Ma Su finally made a decision to wait here for another half a month.
However, just when Ma Su made this decision and was about to go to the front line to encourage the soldiers in person, a messenger suddenly came from the rear. Before Ma Su could react, the messenger hurriedly jumped off the horse and ran straight to Ma Su.
"General! Please return to Luoyang as soon as possible! Something happened in Hebei!"
"Hebei?"
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Time goes back to June, when Ma Su had been stationed in Hefei for more than half a year and sent troops south to attack Wu for the first time.
In Yecheng, Hebei, Cao Shuang also initially completed the integration of power.
Cao Shuang knew very well that under the current situation, the Hebei nobles must have already thought about surrendering. If they were not suppressed forcefully, the entire Cao Wei regime would probably fall apart before the Shu army could march north.
So after taking back the military power of the Qingzhou Army and the Liaodong Army from Sima Shi, he quickly began to integrate power.