Chapter 1172 Wu State sends troops
At the end of March in the fourth year of Yanxi's reign, it was the end of spring and the beginning of summer, and the weather had begun to become slightly hot.
According to the habit of previous years, Sun Deng, the crown prince of Wu State, who was disturbed by the wind and cold, would get better when the weather gets warmer.
But what everyone in the Wu Kingdom did not expect was that Sun Deng's condition this year was very different from previous years.
Sun Deng, who had been suffering from illness for a whole spring, had become emaciated.
If I lose any more weight, I'm afraid I'll be skin and bones.
But at this time, the prince's condition was still serious.
The heavy smell of medicine permeated the prince's palace, like a heavy dark cloud, weighing on the heads of the people in the East Palace.
Most of the people in the East Palace had sadness and worry on their faces.
In the entire palace, except for the prince's cough from time to time, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing.
At this moment, footsteps sounded outside the palace.
The palace guard guarding the door saw the person coming and was about to speak out, but was stopped.
Sun Quan walked to the prince's palace, deliberately walked slowly, and then asked the palace attendant who served the prince:
“How is the prince’s condition?”
“Returning to your majesty, the doctor said that your highness’s condition is still relapsing and he needs to rest.”
Although the words were soft, it was probably because the palace was too quiet, or maybe Sun Deng had been ill for a long time and was unable to sleep properly. He was suddenly awakened:
“Who’s over there?”
“Back to Your Highness, Your Majesty came to visit Your Highness.”
“Is His Majesty here?”
Sun Deng subconsciously wanted to stand up, but then he realized that his limbs were weak and he could only stretch his neck:
“My son has been ill for a long time and cannot get up to greet me. I hope your majesty will forgive my rudeness.”
“What are you talking about!” Sun Quan quickly walked a few steps to the couch, pressed his hands softly, and motioned for Sun Deng to lie down, “Why should you and I, father and son, care about these complicated etiquettes?”
The action just now seemed to have exhausted Sun Deng's strength, and he had to lie back.
Although Sun Deng tried his best to concentrate, his eyes were dim and lifeless.
Obviously, the disease had taken away all his energy and spirit.
Only heard him ask weakly:
"Da Wu is sending his troops to the north this time. Doesn't your Majesty plan to lead the troops in person again? Isn't the day of sending troops coming soon?"
“Your Majesty must be very busy with work, so why do you have time to come and see your ministers?”
Looking at the prince's extremely weak appearance, Sun Quan's heart ached.
Although he had many children, he devoted the greatest effort to Sun Deng.
If not, he would not be allowed to become the prince as a concubine.
Even this son, despite his own wishes, repeatedly got close to the Xu family who was demoted to Wu County.
Even this son kept admonishing and objecting to some of his own decisions.
But in Sun Quan's view, these are the only way for the prince to become a wise king in the future.
But now, the successor he had worked so hard to cultivate has become like this. Why doesn't Sun Quan feel heartbroken?
"You're already like this, so you should take good care of your health first. Don't worry too much about external things, so as not to worry about it."
When Sun Deng heard this, he noticed that Sun Quan's clothes were not the broad robes commonly used in the palace, but the tight-fitting military clothes.
He knew the purpose of Sun Quan’s visit and tried his best to smile:
“Your Majesty is going to lead the troops north, so you came here to say goodbye to your son, right?”
Sun Quan felt even more sad when he heard Sun Deng's words.
The more intelligent the prince became at this time, the more worried Sun Quan became.
He has reached the age of Ershun, and the prince has also passed the age of thirty.
If something unexpected happens to the prince at this time, then...
Sun Quan felt that all his hard work in cultivating successors was in vain.
This blow is not unbearable.
Because he knew that at this time, he no longer had the confidence, energy, or time to select and train a prince like Sun Deng.
At this time, Sun Quan turned into a father who loved his son. He held Sun Deng's withered hand and exhorted earnestly, as if pleading:
“I will definitely wipe out the traitors when I go north this time. I only hope that one day I will lead a victorious army, and my son will be able to lead all the Chinese, civil and military officials to greet him outside Jianye City.”
“How dare your sons and ministers disobey your father’s orders?”
“This is not an order from the emperor, this is an agreement between me and my son.”
Sun Deng, who had always had no energy, finally had a rare light in his eyes when he heard what Sun Quan said.
Like the flame that suddenly bursts out before the candle is extinguished.
“Children must remember this!”
"Okay, okay, then my son will take good care of his health and wait for my return."
Sun Quan patted Sun Deng's hand and said, "I will lead the army northward first, and wait for good news with peace of mind."
“Best regards to Your Majesty.”
Out of the East Palace, Sun Quan took a long breath, as if to clear out the depression in his chest:
“Come here!”
“Your Majesty, please give me orders!”
“Send the order, go to war!”
“Here!”
The knights, carrying military orders on their backs, began to gallop out of Jianye City and rushed towards Stone City.
“Woo woo…”
The long trumpet sound began to sound.
The Stone City garrison, which had received military orders in advance, also started to make a noise under the call of the trumpet.
Then, I saw the pier sluice of Stone City being opened, and the battleships and battleships filed out of the city one after another.
From the intersection of the Qinhuai River and the Dajiang River, it flows into the Dajiang River.
For a time, the broad river was filled with warships, like fish scales, so densely packed that the bows were connected to the sterns, making it dizzying.
To outsiders, these countless warships may appear to be messy and floating haphazardly on the river.
But in the eyes of Ji Han students who were already familiar with Wu's warships, they looked busy but not chaotic, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner.
This is an actual battle that they can personally participate in.
Everyone’s eyes flashed with excitement.
Wu State sent troops this time and specially allocated three fighting ships to them.
Mengchong and fighting ships are the main battleships of the Wu Kingdom.
The Mengchong ship has a long and narrow hull and a sharp knife-shaped bow. It is highly maneuverable and can easily collide with enemy ships.
Many times, Mengchong would cover the back of the boat with rawhide, with hatches on both sides, and there would be spear holes on the left, right and front so that the enemy could not enter and could not be defeated with arrows and stones.
Fighting ships are different from Mengchong.
The fighting ship is larger than Mengchong, with half-height parapets installed on the sides of the ship, and oar holes under the two bulwarks.
Built a shed five feet inboard, as high as the parapet, and build a parapet around the shed.
Mengchong is used for close combat, so the back of the boat must be covered with rawhide to prevent enemy bows and arrows.
As for the fighting ships, they use long-range bows and arrows to suppress the enemy and cover Meng Chong's charge.
So fighting ships are generally not covered.
Instead, flags and flags were set up, and golden drums were set up for commanding attack and defense, advance and retreat.
Further up the Mengchong and Fighting Ships, there are even larger building ships.
Generally speaking, the building ships used in combat have at least three floors.
The first floor is the hut; the second floor is the flying hut; and the top floor is the noble chamber.
Each floor is equipped with a protective parapet to defend against bows, arrows and arrows fired by the enemy.
There are arrow holes on the female wall for firing bows and crossbows.
Top ships are also the main ships in water battles, but they are mostly used as commander's ships.
Wu Guo's boat division was extremely powerful, and the built ships could carry 3,000 soldiers.
There are so many ships pouring out of Stone City, but none of them are sailing randomly. It is the high-rise ships that live among them that are doing the command and control.
This time the student army went to war with the Wu army, and the three ships they commanded were assigned to Zhuge Ke, the Weibei general of the state of Wu.
In his early years, Zhuge Ke was appointed as General Weibei by Sun Quan because of his meritorious service in pacifying Shanyue, and was granted the title of Marquis of the capital.
Later, Zhuge Ke took the initiative to ask to lead troops across the river to garrison, so Sun Quan asked him to garrison troops at Wankou.
As soon as he crossed the river, he sent light troops to attack Shu County, captured the people in the county, and gave Wei a disdain.
Later, he followed Sun Quan and participated in the Northern Expedition to attack Hefei.
Over the years, he has been sending scouts far away to observe the key routes to the north.
After becoming familiar with the terrain of Huainan, he even suggested to Sun Quan to bypass Hefei and attack Shouchun.
Of course, this risky suggestion was rejected by Sun Quan, who was in love with Hefei.
Zhuge Ke was able to continuously send detailed troops to explore the dangerous areas in Huainan. Naturally, the governor of Yangzhou of the Wei State who guarded Huainan never relaxed his surveillance of the old enemy in the south.
The Wu Kingdom’s naval vessels were densely populated across the rivers, and it was impossible to hide such a large-scale military mobilization from the Wei Kingdom.
By the time Sun Quan arrived at Chaokou by boat, Wang Ling, the governor of Yangzhou in the Wei state, had already received the news that the Wu army was going to divide its troops into two groups and invade Huainan.
But seeing that Wang Ling was not panicked at all, he smiled and said to his left and right:
“The Wu invaders experienced famine last year, and they dare to invade this year. They really don’t know whether to live or die.”
There are sober people on the left and right:
"Shu and Wu are colluding with each other to plot against our great Wei. I heard that last year, Shu captives transported a lot of grain from Shu to Wu."
"I think it was precisely because of the support of the Shu captives that the Wu invaders dared to invade the Wei Dynasty after the great famine."
“Captain, the Wu invaders are at least divided into two groups this time. Their momentum is not small, and they have the support of the Shu captives. They should not be underestimated.”
Hearing this, Wang Ling nodded:
"How dare I take things lightly before the battle?"
He clicked on Hefei and Lu'an on the map and said:
"Looking at the direction of the Wu invaders this time, it is nothing more than the same path as before, either to attack Lu'an or Hefei."
“Needless to say, Hefei. This thief, Sun Quan, personally led the army and failed to attack it many times. How can we still be afraid of him this time?”
“It’s the other side of Lu’an…”
Wang Ling mentioned Lu'an and pondered for a moment, then his brows began to wrinkle and a look of disgust appeared on his face:
"Wen Zhongruo (also known as Wen Qin), the prefect of Liu'an, is brave and brave, but he is greedy and cruel, but I am a little worried about him."
Wen Qin was the son of Cao Cao's cavalry general Wen Ji. He was known for his talent and martial arts at a young age. His hometown was Qiao County, Pei State, the imperial hometown of Wei State.
As we all know, since the founding of the Wei Dynasty, the Cao family has placed great trust in their fellow villagers.
Taking advantage of his status as a hero and a fellow countryman of the emperor, Wen Qin was still employed by the Cao family even though he was violent and rude, and he lived in the proud mausoleum and was not subject to official laws.
When Cao Rui was still there, Wen Qin was the prefect of Liu'an County. Wang Ling once wrote to the court, bluntly saying that Wen Qin was corrupt and cruel, and it was not appropriate to care for the border, and he asked for his dismissal from office and punishment.
The court followed Wang Ling's advice and recalled Wen Qin to the court.
So there is actually a lot of conflict between Wang Ling and Wen Qin.
Unexpectedly, after Cao Shuang came to power, in order to win people's hearts, he took over the power alone. In addition, Wen Qin was a fellow countryman and had a reputation for bravery.
So Wen Qin once again served as the governor of Lu'an County, and was also named the champion general.
Although Wang Ling was not happy with this arrangement, he also knew that for every Yangzhou governor, the court would arrange a general who was at odds with him to guard the place.
Just like Man Chong, the former governor of Yangzhou.
Even though he was Cao Xiu, the previous governor of Yangzhou, he was still at odds with Jia Kui even though he was a relative of the Cao family.
But Wen Qin became more and more arrogant after receiving such courtesy from Cao Shuang. He was called the "champion" and thought he was braver than others.
In this case, even though Wang Ling was nominally in charge of all military affairs in Yangzhou, he actually had no way to restrain Wen Qin.
Seeing Wang Ling’s hesitation and difficulty, he persuaded him:
"Captain, there is a distance of three hundred miles from Hefei to Lu'an. Even if Lu'an is lost, and the Wu invaders want to drive their troops from the west and attack Hefei in a pinch, it will still take five or six days."
“As long as the governor stationed heavy troops around Hefei, used the terrain as a defense, and took precautions early, what would he have to fear?”
"Moreover, although Wen Zhongruo has a false reputation, he is indeed a brave man, and the city of Liu'an is so strong that Wu Ke and Lu Xun personally led the army to attack it, but they still can't attack it."
“As long as we remind Wen Zhongruo and ask him to pay more attention, nothing big will happen.”
The people who said that Lu Xun could not conquer Liu'an are actually putting it lightly.
In fact, when Lu Xun attacked Liu'an, he was forced to retreat by Man Chong, who was at odds with Wang Ling, and escaped by boat overnight.
It's just that the people below didn't dare to mention Man Chong too much in front of Wang Ling, who was pushed out to the imperial court for retirement, so they just mentioned it in one word.
But others didn’t dare to say it, but one person dared to speak out.
This person is Tian Yu, the governor of Runan.
Although Runan belongs to Yuzhou, it is adjacent to Shouchun. Whenever there is a military operation in Yangzhou, Runan will basically send troops to cooperate.
This time Wu State sent troops to invade the north, and the momentum was so great that Yangzhou was shaken.
As soon as Tian Yu got the news, he led his troops to support early.
Hearing Wang Ling’s words at this time, he finally couldn’t help but said:
"As long as our army can hold Hefei, if the governor can send another branch from Shouchun to go around the west, we can cut off the retreat of the Wu invaders who attack Lu'an."
“Even if the Wu invaders will not be forced to retreat, they will not dare to attack Liu’an City with all their strength.”
This strategy is actually Man Chong's old plan.
Man Chong used this strategy to force Lu Xun to escape overnight. This strategy was indeed considered sophisticated.
Although Tian Yu did not mention Man Chong's name at this time, how could Wang Ling not know about this old incident?
Wang Ling is only one year younger than Tian Yu, so they can be said to be of the same age.
It's just that Wang Ling is now the commander-in-chief of Wei State with a heavy army, while Tian Yu is just the governor of a county.
The identities of the two people are really different.
At this time, Tian Yu brought up Man Chong's old plan, which was in danger of violating Wang Ling's taboo.
Everyone on the left and right held their breath.
Wang Ling, on the other hand, took a deep look at Tian Yu, but his face didn't change much.
Unexpectedly, he even nodded and agreed with Tian Yu’s words:
"What Governor Tian said is very reasonable. However, although this is a partial army, it has a heavy task. Whoever leads it must choose a good candidate."
Tian Yu took the initiative to invite Ying and said, "I will go there eventually."
Wang Ling shook his head:
"I will lead the army to Hefei in the near future. Shouchun is the jurisdiction of Huainan County and needs someone to guard it. Prefect Tian is familiar with military affairs. If not, please guard Shouchun for me."
Everyone on the left and right was silent, and some even showed an expression of anticipation.
Shuchun is the rear area. Governor Wang placed Tian Yu in Shouchun. It was obvious that he did not want him to make meritorious service in this battle.
They were both prefects, but the royal governor couldn't do anything to Wen Qin because of Wen Qin's background.
What's behind 伱天宇?
The back view?
How dare you bring up the matter of Man Chong in front of the King and Governor.
Tian Yu sighed slightly when he heard Wang Ling's instructions. In the end, he could only clasp his fists and say:
“The last general takes orders.”
(End of this chapter)