Chapter 317: Jiangdong's Dilemma
The massacre of Yangdi had an astonishing impact and news of it soon reached Sun Quan.

Sun Quan had arrived at the north bank. As it was midsummer, strong southeast winds occurred from time to time.

Typhoon activity is unpredictable, and the plain created by siltation at the mouth of the Yangtze River is far from comparable to that of later generations.

So much so that since June, the Jiangdong Army's large-scale military activities have been affected by the typhoon.

The strong wind does not recognize whether you are Sun Quan or not. When Sun Quan arrived at the north bank, the accompanying warships and transport ships entered the water fort port and dropped anchor.

As long as the wind blows, no one in Jianghuai dares to be careless between June and July.

Even in times of war, we must weigh the pros and cons again and again.

Losing a war won't wipe out your entire army, but a strong wind can.

At the water stronghold, Sun Quan stood at the window and looked towards the southeast, where dark clouds gradually expanded, covering the sky and the sun.

After a long silence, Sun Quan asked his attendants, "Cao Cao is a ruthless traitor. Is there no loyal man in the Central Plains who would rise up beside Cao Cao's bed and do what Lü Bu did to kill Dong Zhuo? At the very least, the counties should raise their own troops and fight against the traitor together."

Lu Su said, "General, your words make sense. But when Marquis Lü Wen entered Yanzhou, Cao Cao was able to turn defeat into victory with the three counties of Dong'a. Now Cao Cao is even more powerful. If Liu Xuande is defeated, those who raise troops today will not be able to escape Cao Cao's slaughter tomorrow."

Cao Cao's record of turning defeat into victory in the past suppressed the surrounding counties and made them dare not easily betray each other.

The Massacre of Yangdi is a clear proof that Cao Cao was not afraid of killing and still had the ability to kill.

The silence of the counties around Xu Du forced the scholars and households under the staggered labor service system to continue to cooperate with the dispatches of the imperial court and Cao Cao.

Sun Quan fell silent after listening to this. Killing people must have the most direct deterrent effect.

The problem during Sun Ce's time was not that he killed too many people, but rather that he killed too few people. He failed to completely eliminate the enemy's roots, which allowed the remaining forces of the enemy to launch an extreme counterattack.

Look at Cao Cao. With the power he had accumulated from killing people over the years, even though he committed the atrocity of regicide, the surrounding counties still turned a deaf ear and did not dare to question the court and the rumors spread by Cao Cao.

There was also Dong Zhuo, who killed so many people; and later there were Li Jue and Guo Si. This shows that when you can kill people efficiently, most people will protect themselves and choose to turn a deaf and dumb.

The black bears in Guanzhong are another clear proof. The skull nests built with various heads looted on the battlefield, in addition to showing off merits, have now become an important weight to suppress all rebels at home and abroad.

If Sun Ce had the energy to root out the evil completely, he could have killed the three clans of the powerful families in Jiangdong, or forced them to migrate to one place to live, or he could have forcibly seized their manors and assets and reorganized them into a hundred-household unit like Black Bear did.

Then the current situation of the Jiangdong Army must be completely different.

This time it was the sudden death of the emperor that angered the Jiangdong clans, so they actively contributed money and manpower to cooperate in sending troops.

Otherwise, how could the Northern Expedition be so fast?
After all, the main forces led by Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu were still in Baqiu and Lujiang, and were withdrawing downstream.

In recent years, the daily life of various units of the Jiangdong Army has become increasingly dependent on boats.

At present, there are no professional cavalry or infantry in the Jiangdong Army. They are all navy or naval land forces.

When mobilizing troops, baggage and equipment were transported by ship, making the mobilization extremely efficient.

But the result is also obvious, that is, it is no longer suitable for traditional land warfare in the north and Central Plains.

The most obvious problem is the serious shortage of livestock and vehicles. After leaving the accommodation and supplies provided by the boats, the army's land activities are limited.

But most people don’t think there is anything wrong with this, because the soldiers in Jingzhou are in a similar situation.

The Jingzhou soldiers were the main opponents before. Since there was no generation gap in their equipment and tactics, the Jiangdong army was not under pressure to improve.

The result is that today, the party is divided into several factions over the Northern Expedition.

The scholars in Lianghuai advocated that after conquering Hefei and Shouchun, they should rely on the Huai River to retrain the army, replenish equipment and tools such as vehicles, and then wait for an opportunity to act.

However, the scholars in Xuzhou were divided internally. Some of them advocated taking Hefei and Shouchun and then attacking Xia Pi and seizing Pengcheng.

Pengcheng will be an important stronghold in the north in the future. As long as Pengcheng is in hand, the Northern Army will not be able to enter the Huai River through the Si River, thus strangling the Northern Army's transportation supply line.

The East China Sea, Langya and Wuyue to the east of Pengcheng have traditional sea transportation lines, which are conducive to the transportation of materials and manpower from Jiangdong to the north.

Another group of Xuzhou scholars, led by Zhang Zhao, had an extremely radical attitude. They advocated that after capturing Shouchun, they should go directly up the Huai River and Ying River and attack Xu Du directly!
Zhang Zhao's attitude changed drastically before and after. He certainly did not support Sun Quan in his fight for control of the court. He simply wanted to avenge the emperor.

No matter which faction has stronger influence, all of this has a foundation, that is, it must capture Shouchun and take advantage of the Huai River before it can be implemented.

But Hefei is standing in the way.

As Sun Quan and his men were discussing, Zhou Tai led a messenger in and said, "General, the messenger from the Left General is here."

Sun Quan looked at the man who was almost dehydrated due to his haste on the road. Zhou Tai extended his arms and introduced him: "This is my lord, the general who is going to defeat the enemy."

"I have met the General who is fighting against the invaders."

The messenger then handed the sealed bamboo tube he carried with him to Zhou Tai. After Zhou Tai opened it on the spot and confirmed that it was correct, he handed it to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan took out a scroll of silk, which was Liu Bei's letter of persuasion for a ceasefire.

Sun Quan held the letter in both hands and read patiently. As he expected, Liu Bei stood on the righteous basis of attacking traitors. He first explained that the reason for the failure of the campaign against Dong Zhuo was the internal strife among the heroes, and the internal consumption of strength could not be combined into one; if Sun Quan did not listen to the persuasion and insisted on attacking Huainan, it would be a betrayal of the alliance and collusion with the traitors.

The more he watched, the faster Sun Quan's patience wore away.

He predicted Liu Bei's persuasion, but he didn't expect Liu Bei's tone and attitude to be so strong.

There was a lack of sufficient respect for him in his words, and a lack of necessary respect for the more than 100,000 Jiangdong troops.

Sun Quan showed disdain and crumpled up the silk book and threw it to Lu Su: "Zi Jing, look, Liu Bei is not even the leader of the alliance yet, and he is making decisions like this. Once he becomes the leader of the alliance, won't he be another Yuan Shao?"

Lu Su held the silk book and read it. After reading it, he passed it to others to read and said, "General, what Liu Xuande said makes sense."

"Reason? What kind of reason can this old soldier have!"

Sun Quan was so angry that he wanted to grab the dishes and smash them on Liu Bei's face.

Lu Su replied sternly: "Liu Xuande's reasoning is that he is upstream and I am downstream. If you do not respond and explain, I think the soldiers of Jingzhou will take action, making it difficult for me to take care of both ends."

"Yes, I am controlled by others and it is difficult for me to fully display my abilities."

Sun Quan sighed and asked, "Who is the official on duty?"

Lu Su turned his head to look, and an official stepped forward and answered: "General, the one on duty is Lu Yi, the clerk of the Eastern Division."

Lu Yi, who just turned 23, had just entered the officialdom at the beginning of the year. He had a strong build, like Zhao Yun who was three or four inches shorter.

At this time, Lu Yi stepped forward and bowed: "General, I am here to serve you."

"Write a letter for me and tell Liu Xuande that I took Huainan to fight against the traitors and had no other intentions. The governor of Yangzhou, Liu Fu, is a fellow villager of Cao traitor and was appointed by Cao traitor. Don't trust him."

"Here."

After hearing Sun Quan's request, Lu Yi immediately bowed and turned back to the desk to pick up a pen to draft a letter.

Soon the letter was completed and sent to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan took a pen and scrawled a few words before handing the draft to Lu Yi: "That's it, Boyan will copy it first."

“Yes, I understand.” Lu Yi bowed again, took the draft of Sun Quan’s instructions back to the desk, took out a page of brand new silk book and began to write.

Others were also observing, and no one was in a hurry to express their opinions.

Seeing that Sun Quan was somewhat uneasy, Lu Su stepped forward and patiently explained, "Cao is Liu Xuande's formidable enemy. How could Liu Xuande hold back? In my opinion, Liu Xuande will do everything in his power to defeat Cao. How can he have the nerve to remotely control more than 10,000 Jingzhou soldiers to attack Lujiang and Yuzhang?"

Sun Quan felt slightly relieved and nodded slightly to Lu Su.

That's right. If Liu Bei could still influence other armies to threaten and attack Lujiang and Yuzhang, how could he possibly keep these armies in the Yangtze River Basin?
Naturally, he was pulled to the battlefield in the Central Plains to fight a life-and-death battle with Cao Cao.

As long as Liu Bei and Cao Cao had a fierce clash, even if it ended in a draw, it would encourage counties and prefectures to break away from Cao Cao.

Every time a county was separated, Cao Cao became weaker and Liu Bei became stronger.

As long as Liu Bei remained intact after the collision and did not shatter into pieces, it was Cao Cao's turn to crack layer by layer.

Although the battle of Bowangpo last year won Liu Bei a lot of prestige, this prestige was soon stolen by the black bear who came from behind.

As things have developed to this day, it has become that Liu Bei's cooperation with Black Bear led to the great victory at Bowangpo, rather than Liu Bei's single-handed planning.

Therefore, the military prestige of the Battle of Bowangpo has been attributed to Black Bear in public opinion.

Liu Bei's performance in other battles was also not good, especially in the early stage of Guandu, when Liu Bei chose to abandon his army and flee when faced with the sudden arrival of Cao's army.

Although many people know the inside story of that year, the vast majority of people do not.

Therefore, many people are not optimistic about Liu Bei, thinking that he will be defeated and broken by Cao Cao again.

This resulted in the fact that after Liu Bei sent out his troops, he did not receive the imagined grand scene of hundreds of responses and counties in the Central Plains vying to submit to him.

Sun Quan was even more angry with Liu Bei. While he was thinking, Lu Yi came forward holding the copied silk book and said, "General, I will fulfill my mission."

"Pass it to the messenger Xuande."

After Sun Quan finished speaking, he raised his hand to signal, and Lu Yi and other irrelevant personnel left the barracks.

This was a barracks made of logs, and soon there were only a dozen people left.

Sun Quan asked, "What should we do if Liu Xuande insists on sending troops to harass us?"

This means that an important general will be left behind to defend Lujiang or Baqiu, but Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu have already set out, so why transfer troops to garrison upstream?

For a moment, no one responded.

At this time, Zhang Zhao spoke up: "General, this Northern Expedition is a war of justice. Why should we be obsessed with the gains and losses of a city or a county? The most important thing now is to get rid of the traitors as soon as possible! With the reputation of Liu Xuande and Liu Jingsheng, how could they do something like harassing our army's flank?"

There is some truth in what he said, but Sun Quan didn't believe that Liu Biao and his son and Liu Bei would be so kind-hearted?

If you put yourself in their shoes, you will definitely make careful plans.

Sun Quan had other ideas in mind, and at this moment he slowly nodded in agreement: "Let's do as Mr. Zi Bu says. Today we must attack the traitors, and the rest of the affairs can be put aside for the time being."

"Yes, I will follow the general's orders."

Everyone bowed in this way, and seeing that Sun Quan was not in a good mood to talk, they stood up and left.

After a brief persuasion, Sun Quan and Lu Su were soon the only ones left in the barracks. The wind was starting to blow outside, and it was very strong.

The window shutters of the wooden house were lowered, and the door panels of Sun Quan's wooden house were also installed and fixed in order, which was enough to withstand ordinary typhoons.

In the barracks, Sun Quan's thoughts were immediately shattered by the crackling of raindrops.

He went to the window and looked at the rain outside through the gap. Everything in his sight was dark, and the rain was fast and dense.

Lu Su didn't care about the changes in the environment outside the house. He just fiddled with the charcoal fire, and soon he boiled water in the ceramic basin with the burning charcoal to make tea for Sun Quan.

Sun Quan sat cross-legged, holding a tea bowl and blowing it.

Under such circumstances, Sun Quan revealed his biggest concern: "The Black Sima is the most powerful now. If the Yuan family in Hebei and the Cao and Liu in the Central Plains cannot resist the Black Sima in the future, what should I do?"

Lu Su replied sternly: "The country is in trouble now. What crime has the general committed by leading an army of righteous men to fight against the traitors?"

Sun Quan was silent, and then asked: "When Cao and Liu were fighting, I was afraid that Hei Xiong and Yuan Shang would intervene and mediate, so that Liu and Cao would be tied. What should I do?"

"General, you worry too much. Given the current situation, there is no chance of a draw between Cao and Liu."

Lu Su continued to explain: "We must capture Shouchun in this battle. Only in this way can the general take control of Jianghuai as well."

"Shuchun?"

Sun Quan nodded slowly to show that he understood.

Only by taking Shouchun can everything that follows be achieved; if he fails to take Shouchun, he will be in danger.

As for Hefei City, the barrier outside Shouchun City, it was not a big deal in Sun Quan's eyes.

Liu Fu took up the post alone and managed Lianghuai for only three years or so, so his foundation was really not very solid.

As long as his army arrives in Hefei, Liu Fu will be scared to death!

Liu Fu must be killed because his appeal is too strong. If he is not eliminated, once Liu Fu completes other agreements with the big families in Jiangdong, it will be the Sun family's turn to be in trouble.

Seeing that Sun Quan was not in high spirits, Lu Su tactfully took his leave.

Sun Quan was left alone in the wooden barracks, thinking of other more clever tactics to defeat the enemy.

Lu Su was pushed out from the barracks. It was clearly around three or four in the afternoon, but the sky was covered with dark clouds, as if it had already gone dark.

The rain gradually got heavier. Lu Su looked up at the falling raindrops and soon his clothes were wet.

The coolness woke Lu Su up. Without further delay, he walked quickly and soon returned to a barracks not far away.

Several other shogunate officials were housed in this barracks. Lu Fan, who was with the army, was fiddling with abacus in front of a fish oil lamp, quietly calculating the military expenditures.

Lu Su's return did not attract anyone else's attention.

Lu Su also knew that these people more or less disliked him. It was not because of his incompetence, but because he was not from Jiangdong, but a wandering traveler from the north bank.

He said nothing and returned to his bed. Like other officials, he sorted out the documents he brought with him and memorized all kinds of information so that he could give accurate answers when Sun Quan asked questions.

But when he thought of the danger of this battle, Lu Su felt a little suffocated.

It's not that Hefei and Shouchun are difficult to fight, but if we kill an important official of the royal family on the way to the Northern Expedition, we will easily be liquidated in the future.

If Liu Fu could be captured alive, there would still be room for maneuver.

But if Liu Fu died in battle, and the future really reached that critical step, who would dare to surrender to the Liu clan?
I always feel that even if Liu Fu could be captured alive, Sun Quan would find a way to kill Liu Fu in the chaos of war.

(End of this chapter)