Chapter 324 Silver Seal Tactics
In Wancheng, the defending general Lei Xu inspected the city wall.

To the south of the city was the camp of the Jiangdong army that had come from the Wan River. The camp was a rudimentary one, consisting of only enclosing some land and placing and assembling siege equipment.

Most of the Jiangdong army officers and soldiers still lived in the cabins.

Therefore, the Jiangdong army came from a long distance without the fatigue of marching, nor did they waste any energy building a camp.

The officers and soldiers of the Jiangdong Army are now in exceptionally high spirits and physical strength.

While Lei Xu was thinking, the guard beside him pointed to the northeast: "General, our army's messenger!"

The people around turned their heads to look, and saw a dozen knights appear in the distance, reining in their horses and maintaining their speed.

There were also patrolling Jiangdong Army scouts, but they were only in two groups, with five knights in each group.

The Jiangdong scouts did not dare to step forward to intercept, but slowly retreated, keeping a safe distance.

A dozen minutes later, another three groups of Jiangdong scouts arrived in the northeast of Wancheng.

But he did not dare to step forward to intercept and kill them, and could only allow these dozen knights to approach Wancheng.

There is a moat in Wancheng, the drawbridge is lowered, and a knight steps forward holding up a sealed document in his hand: "Lower the basket!"

The basket descended quickly. The knight dropped the documents into the basket, turned around and left. After meeting up with the others, he headed northeast.

The Jiangdong scout knights pretended to chase after them, wanting to kill the enemy, but no one dared to attack first.

The hanging basket was pulled up, and Lei Xu took down the official documents. The surrounding military officers watched. Lei Xu used a ring-handled sword to break the seal, revealing a stack of formal silk books.

The top one is the letter written to him by Chen Lan. Chen Lan hopes that Lei Xu can hold on for three months. After three months, reinforcements will definitely arrive.

He also told the story of how the Yangzhou governor Liu Fu was persuaded by the people of Huainan to become the King of Huainan, and now Chen Lan is the Left General of Huainan.

Lei Xu had no surprise or negative thoughts about Liu Fu's enthronement. Only when Liu Fu became king could people like him do their work with peace of mind.

Putting down Chen Lan's letter, the next official document was an imperial edict with the seal of King Huainan, appointing him as the Right General, Governor of Lujiang County, and Holder of the King's Seal.

Along with it came two silver seals and a newly woven silk ribbon flag that was one and a half feet long.

He passed the official document to the military officers on his left and right, and then picked up the last handwritten letter written to him by the King of Huainan.

Lei Xu subconsciously knelt on one knee, facing the direction of Hefei, holding Liu Fu's handwriting and reading it carefully.

In the letter, Liu Fu expressed the various reasons why the officials and people of Huainan urgently wanted him to become king, and also emphasized the political stance of the Huainan Kingdom, which was to protect the territory and the people.

Finally, the attitude towards the outside world was also described. The crown prince had already set out to Guanzhong to seek help, hoping that Lei Xu could defend Wancheng for three months.

The city fell in March because no reinforcements arrived. He felt sorry for Lei Xu.

After reading it, Lei Xu slowly rolled up Liu Fu's handwritten letter and said with emotion: "Your Majesty has been so kind to me, and I should repay you with my death."

The surrounding military officers helped him up. A captain also said, "We were forced to rebel by Yuan Shu. Now that Yuan Shu is defeated, we have no one to rely on. It is the king who has forgiven us and invited us to rule Huainan together. I am naturally happy to serve the king."

"Okay! That's how it should be!"

Lei Xu looked around and saw that no one was avoiding his gaze. Everyone looked determined: "In this time of national crisis, the Sun family is going against the flow and attacking the pillars of the clan. This shows how treacherous and deceitful they are. Today I swear to you that I will live and die with Wancheng!"

It was Liu Fu who restored the turbulent Huainan, allowing countless displaced men and women to farm and resume production with peace of mind.

It also allowed Yuan Shu's defeated soldiers, who had been hiding in the mountains and could only survive by looting and hunting, to regain their dignity and live a normal life in their hometown.

Huainan’s rapid recovery and prosperous situation is worth every Huainan citizen’s hard work.

The people of Huainan had experienced Yuan Shu's rebellion in particular, and had also been flooded with defeated soldiers and civilians from the surrounding areas, which made them more aware of how hard it was to achieve the peace and tranquility in Huainan.

Before the rise of Grand Marshal, no one could pacify a region as quickly as Liu Fu and restore its productivity.

Starting from Lei Xu, the morale of the Wancheng defenders became high.

Liu Fu has done great favors for Huainan, and now King Huainan Liu Fu can make him the right general, and in the future he can bring him to join the Grand Marshal's office.

So what can Sun Kuaiji give him?
No decent title or official position can be given.

Now that the emperor has been murdered, powerful vassals in various places have claimed to be kings, and they already share the legitimacy of the imperial court. Next, it will depend on which of the Liu family vassal kings will have the last laugh and do what Guangwu did.

Ruxukou, Sun Quan’s main camp.

After hearing the news that Liu Fu had proclaimed himself king, Sun Quan felt even more depressed.

If Liu Fu had called himself some other king, Sun Quan would not have had such mixed feelings.

But they chose the King of Huainan, which clearly meant they were going to fight him to the death.

In addition to this incident, rumors had already spread in the army, and Sun Quan felt increasingly unstable in his rear.

In this Northern Expedition, the accompanying troops were almost all officers and soldiers from Jiangbei and their followers.

There are not many troops left on the south bank. If the garrisons of the counties and prefectures cannot suppress the big families in Jiangdong, a rebellion that is difficult to control may break out.

Liu Ji and his brothers, the sons of Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, were originally in Yuzhang to observe mourning. They were brought back to Jiangdong when Sun Ce returned.

Theoretically speaking, if Liu Ji, now 19 years old, proclaimed himself King of Wu with the persuasion and support of the prominent families in Jiangdong, the officials and people of Jiangdong would also recognize him.

From now on, the counties and prefectures in Jiangdong will naturally listen to the King of Wu, and will not listen to the prefect of Ji County, Sun Quan.

Perhaps if a rebellion really breaks out, Sun Huiji will become a lost dog.

Just as Sun Quan was pondering, his strategist Jiang Gan came straight to Sun Ben's water stronghold in a small boat with a servant rowing the boat.

Sun Ben personally went out to greet them, and he and Jiang Gan set up a tent on the shore mudflats, drinking wine and eating fish.

After three cups of wine, Jiang Gan took out a scroll of silk and handed it over: "General, this is the Jiangdong oath."

Sun Ben took it and spread it out, and saw that it was a handwritten letter from Gu Yong to Huainan. They wanted to support Liu Ji as the King of Wu and hoped that Huainan could delay Sun Quan.

As a disciple of Cai Yong, Gu Yong's calligraphy is quite distinctive and unique.

Sun Ben put down the handwritten letter that could have cost the lives of Gu Yong or Sun Quan, and asked, "What does this mean?"

"I have no other intentions, but I hope that the general will not make mistakes and make plans early."

Jiang Gan spoke gently, as if he was thinking about Sun Ben. "Since Sun Quan gathered his troops, my king has sent envoys to Jiangdong to persuade everyone. Except for Sun's relatives, the rest of them are aware of it. Although some of them will expose it, it is not easy to evacuate the army gathered on the north bank."

"How can the army be stabilized if it raises a large army without authorization and fails to achieve any success and then retreats southward in a hurry?"

Jiang Gan looked at Sun Ben and said, "Sun Kuaiji has no way to retreat. He can only attack Hefei and take down the city to establish his prestige. If the general can take advantage of this opportunity to make merit, my king will ask for merit for the general from the Grand Marshal."

Sun Ben frowned, very unhappy.

Before it was Hua Xin, and now it’s Jiang Gan. Why are these people so sure that he will rebel?

Although he had verbally agreed repeatedly, he was only conspiring with Xu Kun and had not taken any other action.

Even so, these outsiders all think they should rebel, so what would Sun Quan think?
Perhaps he had been sharpening his sword for a long time, ready to eliminate himself and Xu Kun through war.

After just a moment's thought, Sun Ben asked, "What if Gu Yuantan's handwriting is a forgery?"

"Don't you know, General? Gu Yuantan is a disciple of Cai Bojie and has a fellow disciple relationship with the black Sima. With Cai Zhaoji's recommendation in the future, Gu Yuantan will certainly be trusted and valued by the Sima. Even if it is a forgery, can the general have a better choice?"

As Jiang Gan spoke, he took out a silver seal that he had been playing with all the way from his sleeve and presented it with both hands: "This is the seal of the former general of Huainan."

Sun Ben narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Not enough."

Jiang Gan took out another silver seal and presented it with both hands: "This is the seal of the governor of Yuzhang County."

"Sir, what I mean is that one former general seal is not enough. My partner, General Xu of Pinglu, also needs one."

"I see, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Jiang Gan took out seven silver seals from his bosom, picked out a Danyang County Governor's seal, a former general's silver seal, and handed them to Sun Ben in total: "This is the highest respect my king gives to the general. Yuzhang is a large county in the Han Dynasty, not a small county divided by Sun Quan."

Sun Ben's eyes fell on the other five seals in Jiang Gan's hand: "How many do you have, sir? To be honest, a friend of mine has quite a few, maybe they can be used."

(End of this chapter)