Chapter 327: Broken at the touch of a touch

As the leap month of June was coming to an end, Xudu was shrouded in heavy rain.

The peak period of officials fleeing had passed, and Cao Cao felt increasingly weak.

He is even worse than Dong Zhuo back then. No matter how bad Dong Zhuo is, he still holds the emperor and the court in his hands, and scholars from various counties will still flock to Chang'an.

Serving the court means serving Dong Zhuo, so Dong Zhuo never lacked people, but only lacked loyal and reliable people.

Just like now, Cao Cao's shogunate is short of staff.

It was raining heavily, but Cao Cao fell asleep comfortably.

When he woke up, he saw Xu Chu and Cao Xiu standing at the gate, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

Cao Xiu stepped forward and handed over the silk book in his hand: "Urgent news from Shouchun."

"Ok?"

Cao Cao tilted his head to look at Cao Xiu, carefully observing his expression, and guessed: "But Sun Quan was defeated?"

"Just as Zhongfu expected."

Cao Xiu sighed softly, "I never thought that his clan would be the first to rebel, and Zhou Yu would be even more vulnerable."

After hearing this, Cao Cao opened the silk book and saw a rough report of the front-line battle written on it.

General Sun Ben, who conquered the enemy, and General Xu Kun, who pacified the enemy, raised their troops to submit to the King of Huainan and attempted to cut off the Rushu River and block Sun Quan's army's return route.

The guard general Zhou Yu noticed this and withdrew his troops from Juchao Lake first, sailing at night. As a result, a strong wind arose at night, and more than half of Zhou Yu's fleet capsized. Zhou Yu was also attacked by brothers Sun Yu and Sun Jiao, and his entire army was wiped out.

Almost at the same time, the armies of Chen Wu and Jiang Qin were deceived by Sun Ben and Xu Kun. Chen Wu was deceived and killed; Jiang Qin defended his camp, but was defeated by the fierce attack of Sun Ben and Xu Kun.

As for the detachment heading towards Wancheng, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Song Qian and others killed Lu Meng during a meeting, and took captains such as Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang hostage, and changed the flag of the army.

The main force of Sun Quan's central army was still south of Xiaoyaojin, but his detachment and rear army had already rebelled.

I guess at this moment Sun Quan's central army officers and soldiers also began to flee, which was something that could not be stopped.

Given a choice, no one wants to die.

Sun Quan lacked military prestige to begin with, and now his retreat was cut off. Several of his cousins ​​took the lead in rebelling and killed Zhou Yu. Sun Quan alone could no longer control the central army.

When Cao Cao thought of Sun Quan's predicament, he couldn't help but feel the same.

He felt very lucky and said, "Liu Fu hastily proclaimed himself king, but he was able to incite veteran generals like Sun Ben and Cheng Pu to rebel? This shows how powerful the Han Dynasty is and how people support it."

Cao Xiu nodded and said, "That's right. Fortunately, Zhongfu took the initiative. Otherwise, when Hei Xiong and Liu Xuande marched to Wankou, the Liu clan would have rebelled and we would have been wiped out."

Xu Chu stood aside without saying a word, as he had no way out anyway.

Even if there is, the cost of this retreat is too high.

Cao Cao threw the silk book to Cao Xiu and said, "Go and ask Mr. Wenhe and Mr. Zhongde for advice on this matter."

"Here."

Cao Xiu bowed, turned back and left. Cao Cao also came to the threshold and looked at the rain curtain on the eaves, then looked at the dark sky. He didn't know whether it was noon or afternoon. In short, his mood was the same as his.

After he had eased his worries, Cao Cao said to Xu Chu, "Prepare the food. I want to chat with you two gentlemen while we eat."

"Here."

Xu Chu turned around and arranged for the tiger soldiers to convey the order, while he accompanied them.

Half an hour later, Jia Xu and Cheng Yu came to meet Cao Cao one after another.

In the side hall, there was a copper basin with charcoal fire.

While brewing tea, Cao Cao waited for Jia Xu and the other two to finish reading the military intelligence report, and then Cao Cao said, "In my opinion, Sun Quan has some tricks up his sleeve. I want to send troops to support him, and do you two have any good ideas?"

Cheng Yu looked embarrassed and said immediately: "My lord, it has been raining for seven or eight days, and I don't know when it will stop. After the rain stops, the Ruying River system will rise, and the Huai River will be even more turbulent and difficult to march. The infantry and sailors are all useless, how can we rescue them? It would be better to send an envoy to inform and encourage Sun Quan to lead his troops north to Huaipu." Huaipu is the lower reaches of the Huai River, located at the junction of Xia Pi and Guangling.

After hearing this, Cao Cao felt that it was a bit difficult to deal with. If Sun Quan's army lost their boats, the boats would definitely not carry too many carriages and horses.

Therefore, Sun Quan's mobility and the amount of land transport supplies were limited, which meant that he could not take many troops with him.

No matter how bad Sun Quan's army is, he still has more than 10,000 people.

If we bring this group of people to the Central Plains, we can at least use them as a special force.

Cao Cao couldn't wait for Cheng Yu to say anything else, so he turned to look at Jia Xu, expectantly: "Mr. Wenhe?"

"Mingsir, I think we can let Sun Quan abandon his army and flee. Today's weather, terrain and people are not favorable for our army to rescue and provide support. If Sun Quan is smart, he must have abandoned his army and fled alone when Zhou Yu was defeated. If we can get this man, we can know the strength of Jiangdong."

Jia Xu didn't have any particularly good solution, given the rain outside and the swollen and flooded rivers.

Not to mention them, even if Black Bear came, he would not be able to save or protect Sun Quan and the army.

Cao Cao was somewhat unwilling, but he also knew that no one could do anything under the harsh climate conditions.

Unless Sun Jian and Sun Ce were resurrected, no one could restrain the rebels; the rebellious Jiangdong army could only clear itself by capturing or killing Sun Quan.

At this moment, Sun Quan was so bold and presumptuous that he dared to be the first to attack the powerful vassal state of the royal family.

This time, instead of swallowing up Huainan, all the counties in Jiangdong were handed over to Liu Fu.

It is also difficult to deal with now. After Liu Fu completely takes over Jiangdong and owns the entire Yangzhou, he will inevitably use troops against Guangling, Xia Pi, Langya, Donghai and Pengcheng.

It would force Zang Ba to express his position in advance. If Zang Ba expresses his position one day later, Cao Cao would have one more day to stabilize the internal situation and suppress the unrest.

Zang Ba never expressed his opposition, he was just repaying the favor.

When Liu Bei invaded the Central Plains, Zang Ba was still able to hold out. This was the confidence of the local powerful faction.

But when the Yangzhou army marched north to attack Xuzhou, local powerful figures like Zang Ba had to make their stance clear, and they had to use the army to do so.

So Xiahou Yuan was in danger. After Chang Xi rebelled, he gathered all his strength to defend the city, which was not something Xiahou Yuan could easily break through.

In one of the two Xuzhou massacres, the hardest-hit area was the western part of Donghai County.

Therefore, the determination of the people of Donghai to defend the city is very strong. Especially under such external environment, it is impossible for them to be easily instigated or crushed.

Xiahou Yuan could not defeat Chang Xi. When the Yangzhou army moved north and Zang Ba was forced to express his stance, Xiahou Yuan would be attacked from both the north and the south.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that some of Xiahou Yuan's generals and officers turned against him in the middle of the battle.

If Sun Quan was rescued intact and allowed to go to Huaipu with more than 10,000 people, he would be able to resist the northward advance of the Yangzhou army, stabilize Xiahou Yuan's southern front, and buy time for Xiahou Yuan to break the city.

As long as he could stop Liu Bei and prevent Liu Bei's army from attacking Xuzhou, Zang Ba could delay for a while.

Once Liu Bei is defeated on the front battlefield, the fence-sitters in the Central Plains will continue to be loyal to him.

Therefore, Sun Quan and that army were very important.

Combat effectiveness is secondary. At this moment, Cao Cao also understood very well how Black Bear used the allied forces when attacking Guanzhong.

It doesn’t matter how many people the reinforcements of the two allies, Wang Wei and Zhao Yun, can kill. As long as they cooperate in the action, it will increase the strategic influence of the action and make other enemies fearful.

Just like Sun Quan, even if Sun Quan ran to Huaipu with more than 10,000 people, he was in a state that would be shattered at the slightest touch. But with Liu Fu's mentality, would Liu Fu challenge Sun Quan?

Seeing his two trusted advisers so pessimistic, Cao Cao said, "Since this is the case, I will send a letter to Sun Quan to persuade him to break out as soon as possible."

Jia Xu then spoke up: "Mingsir, Zhou Yu is a wise man, and he may have already prepared a plan."

"hope so."

(End of this chapter)