Chapter 325: Rebellion on the Battlefield
On the 22nd, Sun Quan's army advanced in succession.

It rained on the 24th, and Sun Quan personally led more than a hundred cavalrymen out of the water stronghold to scout northward.

Outside Hefei city, on Shishui Bridge.

Sun Quan reined in his horse on Xiaoshi Bridge, and raindrops fell down his hat.

He held the whip in his right hand and pointed to the outline of Hefei City: "Liu Fu is the king today, which is quite similar to Yuan Shu."

Ling Tong, who was accompanying him, nodded and said, "That's right. In times of national crisis, he, as a virtuous member of the royal family, did not think of raising an army to fight against the rebels. Instead, he took in the rebels' followers and took advantage of the chaos to claim the throne, in order to oppose our righteous army."

Feeling that Ling Tong's words were not very considerate, Sun Quan nodded and looked at Lu Su again: "Zijing, what do the people of Huainan think?"

Lu Su was gathering his straw raincoat and shawl, but when he heard this, he stopped and bowed to Sun Quan: "My lord, Liu Fu declared himself king in a hurry, how can he win the support of the people in Huainan? When the rain stops, I will go to Shouchun as an envoy, and I will know the people's sentiments in Huainan."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

Sun Quan did not cross the bridge either. His cavalry took a few glances at the general outline of Hefei City from the bridge, then reined in his horse and turned around.

As he retreated, the seventy-odd knights who were on guard across the bridge also evacuated under the leadership of Zhou Tai.

This investigation has confirmed that Liu Fu did not adopt a defensive tactic of supporting each other. The entire army huddled in the city of Hefei, and the suburbs and remote suburbs outside the city were fortified, the wells were filled, and the houses were burned, leaving basically nothing useful.

On the top of the Hefei city wall, Liu Fu was walking on the city wall, wearing leather armor, a straw hat and a raincoat, and sandals with his trouser legs folded to his knees.

The city of Hefei has not been repaired, and at this moment the military and civilians in the city are urgently reinforcing it.

In the drizzle, the common people carried soil up the wall, and the soldiers tamped it with wooden pestles.

While compacting the soil, wooden stakes are buried in the soil. After the stakes are firmly fixed, horizontal bars and wooden boards are tied between the stakes, and a row of wooden walls are erected at the outer wall.

"The Jiangdong army is good at archery. I will set up wooden walls and wooden shields, so I am not afraid of their strong attack."

When Liu Fu was on patrol, a captain was urging and encouraging the soldiers.

Seeing that Liu Fu only brought a few followers, the captain knelt on one knee, with mud staining his knees: "Your Majesty!"

"Do what you have to do and leave me alone."

Liu Fu waved his hand to the other officials who had put down their tools and were preparing to salute, then he walked past them and continued his patrol.

As long as the defenders on the city walls build up defensive fortifications against arrows, the defenders on the city walls will not suffer any loss when the Jiangdong Army launches a fierce attack and bows and crossbows are fired at each other from above and below the city walls.

The Jiangdong army's advantage lies in its strong military force. If there were no shields, they could quickly suppress the defenders on the city and create opportunities for a violent attack on the city.

But now, as long as they shoot back, the attackers' long-range suppression capabilities will be greatly weakened.

Then the archers on the city wall can shoot calmly, suppressing the archers below the city wall, while also being able to accurately snipe the melee infantry attacking the city.

This tactic was not thought of by the Huainan army, but was summarized by Cao's army to resist the strong attack of the Guanzhong army.

Many poor warriors from Liangpei fled to Huainan and joined Liu Fu, bringing with them this tactic of enhancing their ability to defend against arrows.

Naturally, it was used to fight against the Jiangdong army who were good at shooting.

Liu Fu had always been close to the people, and he did not change his habit after being named queen.

But when he appeared on the city wall at this moment, all the soldiers and civilians who were working there were excited.

The governor, who shared weal and woe with the King of Huainan, obviously had two different appeals.

On the other side, Sun Quan returned to the water camp south of Xiaoyaojin. Although it was called a water camp, it was actually not well constructed.

The land camp is incomplete, and the water camp is also imperfect. It will take time to build the large camp.

When Sun Quan arrived, Sun He was waiting at the land camp gate.

Seeing Sun Quan riding his horse towards him, Sun He anxiously stepped forward and saluted: "Ming Gong!"

Seeing Sun He was angry, Sun Quan could only keep a straight face to maintain his dignity: "What's the matter?"

"Mingsir, the reeds on both sides of the Shi River are lush and can hide thousands of soldiers. Your life is the hope of more than 100,000 soldiers, how can you leave the camp lightly?"

Sun He was very angry. Everyone around him was either his people or Sun Quan's people. He looked up at Sun Quan and said, "Please respect yourself, my lord!"

Sun He followed Sun Jian and Sun Ce since he was young. Sun Jian was arrogant and was lured and killed by a small group of Jingzhou soldiers; Sun Ce was even more of a loner and died at the hands of an assassin.

However, Sun Quan, who was usually cautious by nature, could not control himself on the battlefield and behaved in a frivolous and dissolute manner, which made Sun He very helpless.

Sun Quan saw that Sun He was getting angrier and angrier as he spoke, and he could hardly suppress his resentment.

Fearing that Sun He might say something that would end badly, Sun Quan immediately dismounted and bowed to Sun He: "I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so careless and negligent."

Sun He just stared at Sun Quan. Based on his understanding of Sun Quan, he could apologize, but he would go out again next time if he had the chance. But Sun Quan had already apologized. He was just a side branch, not even close to the elders, so what else could he say?
He could only sigh: "The great cause of occupying Jianghuai and ruling the southeast will be accomplished soon, so you must be careful!"

"Yes, I understand."

Sun Quan responded again and then asked, "Is there something wrong in the camp?"

"Yes, quite urgently."

Sun He took out a scroll of silk from his waist bag and handed it to Sun Quan, whispering: "The Yuzhang troops were supposed to march from Ruxukou today, but Boyang said that the wind and rain were strong and the river was rough, so they had to wait until tomorrow to move camp."

Sun Quan's expression remained unchanged. He picked up the silk book and shook it open. Some raindrops fell on the book and Sun Quan lowered his head to read.

This was Sun Ben's reply to the military letter, in which he refused to move camp and march to Chaohu Lake on the grounds of bad weather.

Sun Quan looked up at the rain and asked, "Are the rain and waves on the river bank as Boyang described?"

"The wind and waves are indeed strong, but they are not strong enough to destroy the masts and sails as Boyang said."

Sun He really wanted to remind Sun Quan to be wary of Sun Ben, but it was a bit unreasonable for a member of a side branch like him to alienate his cousins.

Besides, Sun Quan killed the brother of Sun Ben whom he raised. How could Sun Quan easily trust Sun Ben?

Sun Quan thought for a moment and returned the silk book to Sun He: "Let's wait and see what else happens tomorrow."

"Yes. Nothing else."

Sun He took the silk book, stepped back tactfully and made way.

Sun Quan mounted his horse again and led more than a hundred riders back to the tent on the shore.

There was a skylight in the square tent, and a military officer working inside started a fire.

After Sun Quan and others entered the tent, they took off their rain gear. Sun Quan came to the campfire, sat down, raised his hands and arms to keep warm.

Lu Yi, the secretary of the Eastern Cao, came forward with a plate of bamboo slips to report, but he saw Zhu Ran bringing tea to Sun Quan before him, so Lu Yi had to stand aside and wait.

Sun Quan took a sip of tea, raised his eyebrows and asked with a smile: "Ginger tea?"

“It’s ginger tea.”

Zhu Ran also took a sip from a bowl of ginger tea and said with a smile: "The Classic of Tea written by the Great Sima says that if you brew it with boiling water, all flowers and plants can be made into tea. Pine needles can be made into tea, let alone ginger slices?"

At this time, the two curtains of the tent door were pulled up on the left and right, and the light inside the tent suddenly became brighter.

Sun Quan turned around and saw Zhou Yu striding towards him in a suit of silver-gilt armor. He took off the straw raincoat on his shoulders and handed it to the guard, and also took off the bamboo hat on his head.

Sun Quan stood up, and Zhou Yu came quickly to see him: "Ming Gong."

Even if Sun Quan had ten times the courage, he would not dare to call himself the supreme ruler.

"Gongjin, why are you on the shore?"

When Sun Quan asked, he pulled Zhou Yu to sit in front of the campfire to warm himself. After Zhou Yu sat down, he looked up and glanced at Lu Su intentionally.

Lu Su understood and stood up, signaling to the other shogunate officials, military officers, and followers in the tent to put down their work and leave the tent.

The position of Dong Cao Lingshi is a confidential official position, but Lu Yi is not untrustworthy for the time being.

So Lu Yi put down the wooden tray he was holding, and seeing that Lu Su showed no intention of keeping him, he followed the others out of the tent.

Soon, only Sun Quan, Zhu Ran, Zhou Yu and Lu Su were left in the tent.

Zhou Yu then took out a scroll of silk and handed it to Sun Quan: "Mingsir, Xu Kun is plotting a rebellion."

Sun Quan looked at Zhou Yu with a strange expression, but Zhou Yu remained calm: "Not only Xu Kun, but also Sun Ben, as well as the brothers Sun Yu and Sun Jiao are also accomplices. Now the rebels have already converged, cut off the Chaoshui River, and blocked our army's way back. If we can't defeat them quickly, Jiangdong will no longer belong to you in a moment."

Only then did Sun Quan pick up the silk book and read it. This was the report from Zhou Yu's spy who was planted next to Sun Yu's brothers.

After reading it, Sun Quan said expressionlessly: "They still don't believe me~!"

"Since Gongjin has discovered this, do you have any countermeasures?"

"Now, we can only withdraw the siege of Wancheng first, and urgently order the armies of Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and Lu Meng to rush to Ruxukou; secondly, secretly order Chen Wu and Jiang Qin to take strict precautions. When Cheng Pu's army arrives, we will join forces with Chen Wu and Jiang Qin to attack Sun Ben and Xu Kun, break their formation, and the enemy will collapse on its own."

Zhou Yu described his plan. Sun Quan listened with a blank expression and asked, "Can you invite everyone to a banquet? I will personally persuade them. Perhaps we can eliminate the disaster without fighting."

Zhou Yu looked up at Sun Quan and said, "I'm afraid Sun Boyang won't agree."

(End of this chapter)