Chapter 335: Borrowing Troops from Jingzhou
“General…” Huang Gai was about to open his mouth to stop him, asking Sun Ce to think twice about what Zhou Yu said before he left, but then he saw Sun Ce raise his hand, signaling him not to say anything more.
"I know what's going on. I've had people survey the terrain of the mountains around Jing County. We've fought them several times in the winter. Now that spring is approaching, the enemy has returned to live in the county. This is the perfect time to encircle and suppress them."
"Besides, I will take you, General Han and General Ling with me on this march. If you still feel there is something wrong, you can wait until the battle."
Huang Gai looked towards Sun Ce. It was hard to tell any intention of fooling around from the other party's fierce face. This was obviously not a casual remark to deal with them.
He thought about it and decided that there was no need to say more.
After all, Sun Ce is the leader of a faction. If he is repeatedly reminded not to act too rashly and not to launch an attack on another faction, where will Sun Ce's face be?
The fact that he did not rebel or even feel unhappy because of these repeated admonitions was a manifestation of Sun Ce's high self-cultivation and broad-mindedness.
"Well!" Huang Gai said loudly, "I will clear the way for you and give Zu Lang a lesson."
He turned to Zhu Ran again, touched the boy's head, and said, "I'll leave Huang She to you to deal with when the time comes."
"Gong Fu," Sun Ce couldn't help laughing, "It was you who advised me just now, and now it's you who has even divided up the spoils. Tell me what this looks like."
"Isn't this what the general taught you?" Ling Cao, who was also included in Sun Ce's group, asked.
Yes, if it weren’t for Sun Ce, the high-spirited young general, how could there be this team that fought all over Yangzhou, still forging ahead with determination and no signs of fatigue.
And now, their goal is directed at——
Zu Lang!
Just like when he rushed to Nanchang overnight to attack Huang Zu, when Sun Ce gathered all his troops and intended to march towards Jing County, as the vanguard cavalry set out, the word "victory" shook the land of Wu and Yue.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this slogan that seemed overwhelming that when Sun Ce first paid tribute to Zhu Zhi and stationed his troops in Guzhang County, and then sent troops from Guzhang to Wanling and then to Jing County, anyone in the queue felt like they were being swept away in a never-ending torrent.
It poured into this narrow mountain valley from the northeast entrance of Jing County, and rushed to the top of the city wall of Jing County with a faster and more unstoppable momentum than walking on the wilderness!
Zu Lang had been entrenched here since before he earned the title of "Marshal of Jing County" and had armed the county town of Jing County like an iron barrel. However, in the face of such a swift attack, the Jing County defenders, who were short of weapons, were no match for Sun Ce.
Ling Cao, who followed Sun Ce into battle, took advantage of Sun Ce's attention attracted at the east gate and led a team of brave soldiers to launch an attack on the north gate.
Amid the roar of battering rams and the hissing of rain of arrows, Sun Ce suddenly heard a loud shout coming from the north gate.
The sound could be clearly distinguished even in the chaos of the battle.
It’s exactly the word “first to ascend”!
The city gate has been broken!
With a breakthrough point, the county town of Jingxian became a paper barrier for Sun Ce's troops. The troops pouring into the city took control of the government office in the blink of an eye.
But after attacking this place, Sun Ce's people were dumbfounded.
The people guarding the city here are not Zu Lang's men, and Huang She is not here either.
In Jing County was another team from the same Shanyue force as Zu Lang.
"Zulang said that he wanted to form an alliance with us to fight against that little Sun Ce." said the captured soldiers in the city.
But they could never have expected that the alliance Zu Lang talked about would only make them a sitting duck in Jing County. When asked further, they found out that they had only lived in Jing County for less than ten days.
The environment hidden by the mountains made it possible for this attempt to steal the dragon and switch the phoenix to escape the eyes and ears of Sun Ce!
Therefore, the successful siege of Jing County became a scapegoat for the Yangzhou government troops to beat.
What the hell is this...
"Damn it!" Ling Cao, who thought he had taken the first credit, gritted his teeth and said, "Zu Lang is really cunning!"
No wonder they encountered far less obstacles than they had imagined when attacking the city. It turned out that the real team had already been transferred.
Zu Lang's action was not only cunning, but also made people more angry towards him.
Even Ling Cao, who had no direct grudge against him, was like this, let alone Sun Ce and Zhu Ran!
When Huang Gai looked at the two men, he saw that at this moment, the same expression was written on these two young faces.
They are going into the mountains!
If they don't pull Zu Lang out of the mountain, not only will they fail to get revenge, but they will also become clowns in the other party's tricks!
"General Zhou, good news—"
Zhou Yu had just finished inspecting the defense layout on the top of the city wall when he saw a horse coming from the south. As soon as he saw his figure, he raised his head and looked up at the city wall, and said impatiently: "General Sun has taken Jing County and started to encircle and suppress Zu Lang's troops in the mountains. He asked us to come and inform General Zhou first."
He continued without pause: "All military supplies and food have been delivered to Jing County, and additional troops have been arranged to prevent any accidents during the mountain search. General Sun asked us to convey that everything is ready, so there is no need to worry!"
The four words "Don't worry" were shouted particularly loudly, as if they were a response to Zhou Yu's instructions to Sun Ce before he left Yangzhou, and they also echoed around the city gate.
Upon hearing this, before Zhou Yu could even speak, his attendant was already happy and said, "General, you see, you are really worrying too much about General Sun's condition."
Zhou Yu had previously worried that Sun Ce might get into trouble in his rash attack on Zu Lang due to his recklessness, and his subordinates were also worried about it. Fortunately, although Sun Ce did not wait for him to come back before sending troops as Zhou Yu had said, he still won the first victory in the attack on Zu Lang.
Zu Lang even lost his base camp in Jing County, and must have suffered a lot of losses. How could he have the ability to launch an effective counterattack against Sun Ce?
From this perspective, perhaps their war in Xuzhou has not yet ended, but Sun Ce has already taken Zu Lang's head.
If they go back quickly, they can also drink the good wine at Sun Ce's celebration banquet.
But when the attendant looked at Zhou Yu's face, he saw that there was no joy on his face at all, only a brewing storm.
"Didn't anyone tell Bofu not to rashly go deep into the heart of Shanyue!" Zhou Yu was about to walk out without even thinking, "Why are Shanyue people Shanyue? It's not just because they are descendants of the ancient Yue people."
The particularly special environment of Jing County made it possible for Zu Lang to become the commander-in-chief of Jing County, and naturally he was also the most difficult one to defeat.
Sun Ce's quick and successful attack on Jing County might at first sound like a similar victory to the one he won in capturing Yuzhang County, but Zhou Yu's intuition had already sounded the alarm.
Something is wrong, it's too easy!
Zu Lang has managed to survive to this day thanks to the advantage of the geographical location. He will never give up Jing County easily. At most, he will temporarily abandon this place because of the season, rather than allowing the city to be breached like it is now.
Zhou Yu calculated the time he had come to Yangzhou and felt that things were even worse.
It was too fast. The time it took to travel there and back meant that Jing County might not even last half a day.
This is not the kind of fighting power that Zu Lang's soldiers would display!
Rather than believing that he was really going to die at the hands of Sun Ce, Zhou Yu believed that Sun Ce had received instructions from someone unknown to him to set up a deliberate trap to lure the enemy deeper into his territory!
And the prey that was led into the trap was Sun Ce, who was eager for revenge!
The death of Huang Zu and the provocation of Huang She, in a twist of rising and falling, fueled Sun Ce's impulse, but they lacked a rein that could stop Sun Ce's progress.
"Withdraw the troops!" Zhou Yu made a prompt decision.
He had to go back and check in case the situation there changed suddenly.
Xuzhou can still be recovered, and we can even continue to maintain a stalemate in the hands of the old fox Jia Xu, and wait until he helps Sun Ce to settle the matter of Yangzhou. If something happens to Sun Ce, who will be the person in charge of Yangzhou?
"Pass the order down, we will return to Yangzhou immediately."
"General?" The attendant didn't quite understand why Zhou Yu would act as if he was facing a powerful enemy, but since this was his arrangement, in line with the principle that military orders are as strong as mountains, he still passed the message on.
It's easy coming, but not easy going!
Zhou Yu's original target was Zhang Fei on the opposite side, and Zhang Fei was surely keeping an eye on his every move.
When the army set out, Zhang Fei, under the guidance of Chen Gui, also decisively launched an attack across the river!
The rear troop that Zhou Yu used to cover the retreat was not prepared enough and was no match for the troops led by Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei always kept the team stationed in the middle, and Chen Gui suggested that Zhang Fei only make a defensive gesture, which actually worked wonders at this time.
Seeing that the advantage was on his side, Zhang Fei finally found an outlet to vent his frustration over Pei State's betrayal of Liu Bei and southern Xuzhou's first attack. In the chaos of Zhou Yu's rear army, he even led an army alone to pursue Zhou Yu's main force.
Thanks to Zhou Yu's leadership, the army was able to quickly reorganize its formation and slowly retreat towards the city. Relying on the city defense equipment on the top of the city, it temporarily stopped Zhang Fei's pursuit.
But the current situation is not good for him.
Zhang Fei's morale was high, so he crossed the river directly and stationed his troops at the foot of the city.
In just one day, Liu Bei's direct troops in Donghai County also followed the governor of Xuzhou and marched towards this breakthrough, giving Zhou Yu no chance to leave the city and counterattack.
The only thing he could do was to ask his subordinates to send the letter out of the city under the cover of a column of cavalry.
A letter was sent to Sheyang, asking someone to ask Jia Xu for help.
But this may not be considered a request for help.
Huaiyin is not far from Sheyang. If Liu Bei's army breaks through the middle road, the next place after taking Huaiyin will be Sheyang!
It would be more accurate to say that Jia Xu was asked to defend the Huai River defense line rather than to rescue Zhou Yu.
The other letter was sent to Danyang County.
In the letter, Zhou Yu did not mention the fact that he was trapped in Huaiyin, in case Sun Ce made mistakes in a hurry and either wanted to win a quick battle or directly evacuate but was attacked by Zu Lang and others. He just mentioned it again in the letter, asking Sun Ce not to pursue the upper forces and to advance alone into the deep into the environment where the Shanyue people were most advantageous.
Be careful, be careful!
"What is there to worry about? Gongjin is still too cautious." Sun Ce raised his eyes to look into the sky and saw several gray pigeons flying over his head.
Pigeons were a symbol of good fortune in the Han Dynasty, so in Sun Ce's view, even though it was not an eagle or a magpie flying through the sky at that moment, it still represented that he would be victorious in this battle, and use Huang She's head to commemorate the tragic death of Zhu Zhi, and also capture Zu Lang, the bastard who had tricked him.
He also immediately issued an order to march troops from Jing County to Yishan, and make sure to catch Zu Lang and Huang She who had escaped.
The name Yishan may sound unfamiliar to people, but during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, the mountain was renamed -
Huangshan Mountain.
It is located between Jing County and Yi County.
The initial capture of Jing County had given Sun Ce so much confidence that he did not realize that when Zu Lang and others completed their retreat from Jing County surrounded by mountains to Huangshan, Jiuhua Mountain and other mountains, they became the real Shanyue.
The impulse to avenge his subordinates, coupled with the fact that he saw his former self in Zhu Ran, made Sun Ce ignore such problems.
In his opinion, since his own troops had an absolute advantage, it did not matter whether the decisive battle was fought in a siege or in a mountain battle.
But he had no way of knowing that the Yangzhou noble family, who had been at odds with him over the appointment of the prefect of Yuzhang County, had formed an alliance with Huang She and lent out the group of Xu Gong's followers who were willing to collect debts from Sun Ce for Xu Gong's death, along with their family's private soldiers.
He had no way of knowing that the gray pigeon flying over his head was not a good omen, but because he took another step deeper into the trap, someone sent another message to Si Li.
This letter, which traveled by air instead of by land, arrived at the new outpost built in Luoyang last year after several days of flying, and was then delivered to Qiao Yan.
Qiao Yan slowly unfolded the letter.
Although she knew that there should be nothing surprising about the letter she received, especially when it was sent from Yangzhou, when she actually saw the letter, she still had a feeling that the wheel of history was finally being moved forward with each step of the chess pieces falling.
Now, this wheel that is rolling forward is about to set off a new wave.
"Wen Ruo, quickly draft a memorial for me. Just say that Yangzhou may have a sudden change, and I will leave Luoyang for a while. If Yangzhou is lost, Xuzhou will lose its support and Liu Bei will definitely occupy the entire territory. The advantageous situation will be lost overnight. I must go in person to persuade Sun Ce. Only your majesty and the three ministers should know about this matter. If the news spreads before the rescue is successful, Wang Situ must give me an explanation!"
Don't ask why they only target Wang Yun.
The question is, this person not only wanted to make trouble for her when the world was still unsettled, but also found fault with her last year because she did not inform her in advance of her plan to seize Yizhou, and also established a relationship with Liu Yang.
It's quite interesting to watch these idiots team up, but that doesn't mean Qiao Yan can't give them a lesson.
She told him this time, but if anything went wrong because of this notification, Wang Yun must take full responsibility.
Xun Yu replied "yes", and then heard Qiao Yan walk out while saying vigorously: "Feng Xiao, send an order to Hanzhong for me, approaching from the Han River to Jingzhou. There is no need to cross the border, just stop at the border."
"Write another letter to Cao Mengde for me, saying that the spring ploughing season is approaching. I intend to meet him at Hulao Pass in a month, and we will have a good chat over wine."
She paused for a moment and added, "This time it's wine, not milk tea, and there won't be any 10-mile farewell."
"If I haven't returned after a month, I'll say I'm busy and postpone it for half a month."
This meeting one month later is not important. What is important is that she wants to use this invitation to make Cao Cao and others think that she will continue to stay in Luoyang. Even if she wants to move, she will at most move to Chang'an.
But judging from the memorial that Qiao Yan asked Xun Yu to write to Guanzhong, how could she possibly stay in Guanzhong?
Something has changed in Yangzhou, and Xuzhou has been affected by it. She has to go there in person to deal with it.
In short, she is going to Yangzhou!
As for how to get there, it was clear enough in the instruction sent to Hanzhong.
She wants to pass through Jingzhou!
Jingzhou is located in the south of Sili, and even spring seems to come earlier than in the north.
Busy water transport has long since resumed on the Han River and the Yangtze River.
Because water transportation was a very important source of financial income for Jingzhou, and Liu Biao could be considered a diligent governor, he made a trip to the Yiling Ferry in Nanjun.
In theory, this is just an ordinary external inspection.
But when he returned from outside, he saw Cai Mao coming towards him anxiously, as if he had encountered some kind of trouble that was as serious as the sky falling.
It’s not Liu Biao’s fault that he made such a judgment after this one encounter with Cai Mao.
Cai Mao was from a prominent family in Xiangyang, and Liu Biao's second wife was from the Cai family, which provided an extra layer of security for their relationship. After Liu Biao took over the position of Governor of Jingzhou, Cai Mao's status rose further.
In addition, Cai Mao did not rely entirely on nepotism to rise to power. He was an outstanding commander in Jingzhou. Therefore, he always looked very steady and rarely showed such panic.
The situation at this moment is really different.
And Liu Biao was not wrong in this judgment.
Before the two of them were close enough to talk, he heard Cai Mao hurriedly say, "My Lord, something has happened."
Something happened? What happened?
Thinking of Qiao Yan's recent troop movements, he quickly asked, "Has the war started in Yuzhou?"
But in theory, even if a war really broke out in Yuzhou, it would not have much to do with Jingzhou.
Anyway, he even sent his subordinate Huang Zhong to Yingchuan for assistance, and the amount of taxes he paid to the court in Chang'an in the past few years was also quite a lot. No matter how you look at it, he was a qualified governor of Jingzhou.
The governor of Yizhou, Liu Yan, had a useless son, which led to Qiao Yan's help. He used the Yinping Road to quickly travel to Chengdu and regain control of Yizhou. Liu Biao had even sent his eldest son to Chang'an. If he was still to be held accountable for this, then the problem lies with Qiao Yan.
The Liu clan cannot be killed just because she wants to, especially those who are not on the wrong side.
But Cai Mao's next words made him feel as if his feet were tied with iron ropes, and he stopped right there, "It's not about starting a war... it's about the Grand Marshal coming in person."
Liu Biao was stunned for a long time, then he pulled Cai Mao by the collar and asked in a low voice: "What is she doing here?"
What a joke!
What did Liu Biao do wrong that required Qiao Yan to come in person to hold him accountable?
The battle situation in Xuzhou is tense right now. To the north, Yuan Shao and Qiao Yan's subordinates are confronting each other on the border of Jizhou and Youzhou. Even if we ignore Yuan Shao for the time being, Cao Cao is always ahead of him in terms of priority.
When everyone was guessing whether Qiao Yan would send reinforcements to Youzhou, Sili or Xuzhou, why did he become the lucky one chosen?
"I don't know either," Cai Mao replied distressedly, "What's even more bizarre is that she only brought a team of several hundred elite soldiers."
This doesn't look like they are going to send troops to punish the criminals.
Especially when it comes to someone of Qiao Yan's status and position, he suddenly went to another state's territory, or to be more precise, went directly to another state capital. This kind of action is even more confusing.
Cai Mao originally thought that he was somewhat smart, but now he felt that he was just a fool who was being led by the nose.
But compared to Cai Mao, Liu Biao was obviously much more worried.
He asked in a voice that only he and Cai Mao could hear: "Do you think she came here with the intention of replacing him?"
Liu Biao was indeed a little afraid of Qiao Yan's strength. He was also very self-aware and knew that since the territory he owned was only adjacent to the Chang'an court, it would be of no benefit for him to choose a position other than this side. The geographical location of Jingzhou is also determined. It is impossible for this place to be in an independent state like Jiaozhou, the southernmost part of the country.
But if Qiao Yan insisted on dealing with him in order to ensure that there would be no second voice in charge of the overall situation in Jingzhou, then Liu Biao would not be a pushover!
He hasn't yet reached the point where he has completely lost his courage.
After all, Jingzhou is his territory.
What's more, he didn't believe that Qiao Yan really didn't even want his allies anymore and only wanted to make enemies everywhere!
"I don't think so." Cai Mao replied, "She didn't publicize her arrival here. She didn't seem to be worried that you would send troops to surround the state capital. Instead, she first asked the Second Young Master about his studies in Jingzhou, and then sent Kuai Yidu and the others over, saying that she wanted to learn about the military equipment in Jingzhou."
Liu Biao's brows were about to be knotted. Cai Mao said, "She said she would wait until you return to discuss the rest. Do you think she will meet him or not?"
There is no option for Liu Biao to just refuse to meet the meeting.
Qiao Yan did not accuse him of treason right away. Instead, he showed concern as an elder to his son and asked some questions as if it were a routine inspection. If he did not go to see him, it would seem that he had something to hide.
What's the matter with not seeing each other?
"See you! I want to see what she is up to when she comes to Jingzhou when the fighting is going on in those places!"
Liu Biao prepared himself mentally before rushing to the reception room in the provincial government.
Qiao Yan was there at this time.
Thinking of the frights that Qiao Yan's subordinates had caused him several times when they passed through the border, Liu Biao couldn't help but have some lingering impressions of Qiao Yan when he saw him in person.
The woman sitting in the hall indeed had an astonishing demeanor.
During the selection of Liao generals in previous years, Liu Biao and Qiao Yan, who were in Luoyang, had met once. Afterwards, one went north and the other went south, respectively serving as a governor and a provincial governor. From then on, the only communication between them was the exchange of imperial edicts.
Liu Biao didn't know that the death of Sun Jian, who was the real cause of the blood feud between him and Sun Ce, was pushed by Qiao Yan behind the scenes. All he saw was that Qiao Yan didn't have the passive restraint of being a guest in someone else's territory at all. Instead, he sat in the main seat with a sense of being the master here, leisurely drank a sip of the famous tea brought to him by Liu Biao's subordinates, and then looked at Liu Biao who had set foot here.
"Liu Jingzhou's inspection tour before the spring ploughing is a sign of his love for the people. It is also a blessing for Jingzhou. I came here uninvited and disturbed you. I hope you don't mind?" Qiao Yan said, "Kuai Yidu said a lot of good things about you when we were chatting just now. But I'm not here to hold you accountable, so there's no need to be so nervous. It shows that you, as the governor of Jingzhou, put too much pressure on others on a daily basis."
"...What are you talking about, Grand Marshal?" Seeing her polite tone, Liu Biao heaved a sigh of relief.
But he couldn't help but complain in his heart that he was putting a lot of pressure on his subordinates and asked Kuai Yue to speak well of him, which was simply unfair to him.
It was obvious that Qiao Yan's sudden arrival caused tremendous pressure on Jingzhou.
Especially the aristocratic families in Jingzhou.
Regarding the prohibition of alcohol in the past, there was some relationship between her and several families in Nanyang, Jingzhou, which was closest to Sili. Kuai Yue was from the Kuai family of Nanjun, so he had to be a little worried about Qiao Yan's attitude.
Liu Biao looked towards Kuai Yue and saw a look from him that seemed to be asking Liu Biao, the person in charge of Jingzhou, to get to the bottom of the current situation.
He calmed down, sat down below Qiao Yan, and asked, "Now that I'm here, you can tell us the purpose of the Grand Marshal's visit."
Qiao Yan said, "Since Liu Jingzhou has asked me this, I will get straight to the point. I want to borrow a boat."
Borrow a boat?
Why did she need to borrow a boat?
Everyone knows that in the Battle of Youzhou, Qiao Yan sailed from Hailing, Xuzhou, across the East China Sea to Liaodong, and captured Gongsun Du who was there in one fell swoop.
Since it can cross the sea, the quality of the ship should be the best in the world.
Why bother borrowing boats from Liu Biao?
She tapped the cup in her hand gently on the cup holder for a moment, causing Liu Biao's attention, which had just drifted away, to refocus on Qiao Yan. "Be more specific. I need to borrow the navy of Jingzhou from you."
"Is the Grand Marshal joking with me?" Liu Biao looked at Qiao Yan's expression and felt that he might have heard something wrong. However, from her calm and resolute expression, Liu Biao could not tell that she was joking at all.
"Why should I joke with you? In the past, you, Liu Jingsheng, rode into Jingzhou alone and asked to be the governor of Jingzhou to deal with the clan bandits here. You borrowed soldiers from the local tyrants. I am just following your example now."
As Qiao Yan raised his hand, Dian Wei, who was originally guarding the door, suddenly closed the door and took a step forward with the sword in his hand.
Although Qiao Yan's expression was calm and he only stroked the black fur edge of the cloak on his shoulders twice, Liu Biao suddenly felt a chill.
He vaguely recalled that there was a rumor about Qiao Yan's youth that during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, she took advantage of the gathering of three leaders of Yanzhou and decisively killed two of them, supporting the third to take the throne.
When it comes to ruthlessness and decisiveness, the ten years of hardship have not helped her improve her character at all, but have clearly made her worse!
She said, "Please lend me the warships from Jingzhou. Otherwise, I have to dispatch them from the shipyard in Hanzhong, which is too much trouble."
Liu Biao tried hard not to show any sign of losing his composure and asked, "Excuse me, Grand Marshal, where are you going to use these warships?"
Qiao Yan smiled and replied calmly: "The war in Yangzhou has changed. Sun Ce is young, and I am afraid he has been tricked. The war situation in Xuzhou is tense. If it cannot be pacified before the spring plowing, I am afraid it will affect people's livelihood."
"Speed is the essence of war, but it also requires sufficient military equipment. If we have ships that travel thousands of miles to Jiangdong and the navy of Jingzhou with spears across the river, I think... the two states can be pacified."
Liu Biao was stunned to the spot, with only Qiao Yan's last words echoing in his mind, "Liu Jingzhou, do you want to borrow this boat or not?"
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