Chapter 328 Boomerang
While Cao Cao and his men were discussing, Sun Quan had already abandoned his ships and led his troops north.

The defenders of Hefei City refused to come out, so Sun Quan marched with more than 20,000 troops lightly armed along the road east of Shishui.

They did not dare to stop at night. Due to the exhaustion of the march, soldiers would often fall behind and flee, or fall down in the mud and pretend to be dead.

Two days and two nights later, the vanguard Zhou Tai returned and stopped Sun Quan: "Mingsong, the Huai River has risen sharply due to heavy rain upstream, and it is really difficult to cross the Huai River!"

Sun Quan looked around and asked, "Where is this place?"

Zhou Tai pointed to the dilapidated city five or six miles to the north and said, "Mingsir, that is Dangtu. Upstream of Dangtu is my hometown, Xiacai."

After hearing Zhou Tai mention the place name, Sun Quan looked at Dangtu in astonishment: "Dangtu?"

At this moment, Sun Quan couldn't help but think of Yuan Shu who proclaimed himself emperor.

Zhou Tai said to Sun Quan and his officials and military officers, "From Dangtu, across the Huai River, not far from the north bank is Longkang in Pei State. Once we enter Longkang, will Cao Gong just sit there and watch? We will have reinforcements to support us."

At this time, Lu Su also spoke up: "The Huai River is turbulent and difficult to cross. Please stay in Dangtu City. This will ease the morale of the army and the officers and soldiers will not be easily defeated."

Sun Quan was pushed by someone around him and came back to his senses. He looked at Lu Su and said, "Only in this way, I will defend Dangtu. Cao Gong will definitely not sit idly by."

We can't run anymore. The army is fleeing and disintegrating too quickly.

The city is a prison. If we enter Dangtu County together, we can stop the army from disintegrating.

This group of troops will be the foundation of his future livelihood.

It would be difficult to replenish them in the future, and every person who escaped now would be his loss.

As for the pursuit, how could Liu Fu easily trust Xu Kun, Sun Ben and Cheng Pu?

It will take at least three to five days for these people to complete the handover and integration; taking into account the changes on the south bank, the water level of the Huai River will return to normal after Liu Fu has cleaned up the mess.

On the other hand, Zhou Yu's life or death is unknown.

On Juchao Lake, Jiang Gan rode on Sun Quan's flagship with a grief-stricken look on his face.

Zhou Yu’s flagship was captured, but Zhou Yu might have fallen into the water. In short, neither his life nor his body was seen.

It is also possible that Zhou Yu escaped at night. The night was so chaotic and windy. If Zhou Yu had made preparations in advance, he would have had a greater chance of escaping.

Zhou Yu was a recognized great minister. The death of such a person here was a loss for Zhou Yu's family and for the scholars of Lianghuai.

The Jiangdong Army, which had turned against their allies and changed their flags, basically came to search for Zhou Yu's body. As for hunting down Sun Quan and the like, the Jiangdong Army generals lacked interest in it.

I always feel a little bit wronged to be stained with Sun Quan's blood for such a small achievement.

After all, it was Sun Quan's cousins ​​who led the mutiny, and other officers also had to take Sun Ben and Xu Kun's attitudes into consideration.

Sun Ben approached in a small boat and entered the cabin through the hatch near the water level. He soon appeared on the deck and handed a scroll of silk to Jiang Gan: "Mr. Ziyi, Sun Quan's defeated soldiers reported that they had entered Dangtu City this morning."

Jiang Gan picked up the silk book and read it. It was a military intelligence report from Hefei City. Seeing that it was estimated that Sun Quan still had 12,000 to 13,000 troops, he could not help but frowned: "Why are there still so many people?"

"It's Sun He. Sun He has a high prestige. Before Zhou Gongjin sent out his troops, he had already ordered Sun He to send troops north."

Sun Ben explained: "At that time, Zhou Gongjin had not yet been defeated, and we had not yet started a rebellion. Therefore, the officers and soldiers were ignorant and thought it was a normal military order, so they left the camp and headed north. However, Sun Quan was frightened and forced the officers and soldiers to hurry along the way. Many officers and soldiers could not stand the harsh criticism and began to question it, so they left the team and fled."

"So the success of this matter is more or less due to our better fortune."

Jiang Gan sighed, and Sun Ben corrected him, saying, "It's not luck, it's that we are more united. If we lose, there will be no way out."

Jiang Gan nodded and said nothing more. After all, the Jiangdong Army was tired and just wanted to cash in quickly.

Especially the emperor's heroic sacrifice for his country made many Jiangdong officers and soldiers unable to understand this world.

Sun Quan and Zhou Yu did not have any outstanding military actions in the past two or three years; the most commendable thing about Sun Quan was that he killed the hot-tempered Sun Fu with calm means of gradual reduction.

How could such a professional internal approach not have backlash?

How come you, a general who is also the prefect of Kuaiji County, are so powerful?
The General Suppressing the Enemy is a collective title for Sun Jian's General Defeating the Enemy and Sun Ce's General Suppressing the Rebellion.

Sun Ben was the Marquis of Duting and the General who Conquered the Enemy, and Xu Kun was the Marquis of Guangde County and the General who Suppressed the Enemy...Under Cao Cao's deliberate suppression and instigation, Sun Quan was no match for Sun Ben and Xu Kun in terms of court position, title, and military exploits.

Even in the case of Zhou Yu, when Sun Ce was alive, he could only forcibly promote him to the positions of Governor of Jiangxia County, General of the Central Army, and Central Guard Army; until now, Zhou Yu has no title, and is still General of the Central Army and Central Guard Army, and is also the Governor of Jiangxia County.

In terms of the strength of his own troops, Zhou Yu is not as good as Sun Ben and Xu Kun.

When Sun Ce died, Cao Cao dug many traps, the biggest of which was that of Sun Fu, the General of Pingnan and the Governor of Jiaozhou.

If Sun Fu actually took office, he would be older than Sun Quan, have greater prestige and military achievements, and would have Sun Ben to support him. Moreover, Sun Fu's nephew-in-law was Cao Zhang. Under such a relationship, Sun Fu would be able to restrain himself, but Sun Quan would find it difficult to do so.

Therefore, Sun Quan stepped into this big pit that he had to go through. He eliminated the powerful clan general Sun Fu, which also aroused the dissatisfaction of his relatives and veteran generals of the Yuan Dynasty.

Originally, after calmly eliminating Sun Ben and Xu Kun, and then promoting people like Lu Meng, Jiang Qin, and Xu Sheng to share the military forces, Sun Quan would naturally be able to control the southeast.

But the situation changed too quickly. Even though Sun Quan saw the signs of change on all sides, he wanted to seize Shouchun as soon as possible and take control of Jianghuai.

After all, he is not a member of the Liu clan. The Liu family can now declare themselves kings at will to strengthen their internal cohesion, but Sun Quan cannot.

In Hefei City, Liu Fu and Jiang Ji were discussing military affairs together.

Should we pursue Sun Quan and eliminate him in one fell swoop?
Jiang Ji really wanted to do this, but the one who made the decision now was King of Huainan Liu Fu.

If Liu Fu was the governor, Jiang Ji could still take a tough stance; but since Liu Fu proclaimed himself king, Jiang Ji would instinctively lower his stance during discussions.

For example, at this moment, seeing Liu Fu's inclination, Jiang Ji took the initiative to explain and guide him, saying: "Sun Quan has become a dog that has lost its home, so there is no need to worry. But the counties in Jiangdong should not delay, otherwise they will nominate Liu Ji as king, and Jiangdong will have no room for maneuver in the future."

"Yes, if we divide our forces and send them north, Sun Quan can certainly be defeated, but we will lose the opportunity to suppress the counties in Jiangdong."

Liu Fu did not expect that the reaction of the Jiangdong counties would be so intense.

He hadn't sent anyone to support them yet, but Gu Yong sent someone to contact him first, hoping that he would delay Sun Quan and give the people of Jiangdong a chance to take action.

As a result, before Gu Yong could take action, just as he succeeded, people sent by Sun Quan's uncle Sun Jing arrived in Hefei and brought him another good news: Sun Jing and his son had captured Sun Quan's mother, siblings, wives, concubines and children.

Not only his, Sun Quan's, but also the families of other generals and officers.

How could Liu Fu have the energy to argue with Sun Quan?

The most urgent thing now is to reach a solid alliance with the rebellious Jiangdong Army, then release these people back to the south bank and restore Yangzhou's control over the counties on the south bank.

By doing this, the necks of the big families in Jiangdong would be strangled, making them lose the opportunity to support someone else as king.

After the complete combing of Jiangdong, Jianghuai became one, and the people of Yangzhou were finally qualified to close the door and live a peaceful and tranquil life.

As for things like competing for hegemony in the Central Plains, Liu Fu didn't even think about it.

Liu Fu didn't care about Sun Quan's life or death.

He was already the King of Huainan. What essential benefits would taking off Sun Quan's head bring him?
(End of this chapter)