Chapter 80 Lü Meng loses the chess piece (please read)
Lujiang County, Xunyang City.
In the county office in the city, Lu Meng, dressed in casual clothes, was playing chess with Sima Yi.
Lu Meng just arrived in Xunyang City not long ago!
Although before, Lu Meng had gathered most of the Jiangdong soldiers and horses into Xunyang City under Sun Quan's order.
But after all, the mobilization of 100,000 troops is not an easy task, and it is also a major military and national event that takes a long time.
Therefore, Lu Meng had been in Xunyang City for several days, but he had been mostly busy with military affairs and arranging preparations for the expedition.
In addition to arranging the departure of the 100,000-strong Jiangdong army, Lieutenant General Lu Meng also rearranged the defense of Lujiang County in the past few days.
Lujiang County is located to the north of the Yangtze River and is the only strategic location in the hands of Jiangdong among the three counties in Huainan.
Precisely because of the existence of Lujiang County, Sun Quan was able to send troops to the Northern Expedition to Hefei many times before.
But similarly, Lujiang County is also a strategic barrier for Jiangdong in Jiangbei.
If Lujiang County is lost, then the heartland of Jiangdong will always be exposed to the prying eyes of the northern cavalry.
Although Sun Quan has temporarily established an alliance with Cao Cao in order to seize Jingzhou, Lu Meng knows that this alliance is very unstable.
It is very likely that after he takes Jingzhou, the Cao-Sun alliance will completely collapse.
At that time, Jiangdong's army was all in Jingzhou, which was a very dangerous thing.
Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the back road and the safety of the hinterland of Jiangdong, Lu Meng re-strengthened the overall defense of Lujiang County.
Even if Cao Cao suddenly breaks the alliance one day and leads his army to attack Lujiang County.
With the defense system he has deployed, Lujiang County will be able to hold on until the moment he leads his army to return for reinforcements.
Even though Lu Meng was very talented, all this complicated and important work was basically completed within a few days, and it took a lot of effort from him, which made his health worse.
After basically completing all the preparations, Lu Meng, who had free time today, specially invited Sima Yi to play chess together in the Xunyang County Office.
There were not many entertainment activities in the world at that time, and Go was considered the favorite entertainment activity among the scholar-bureaucrats at that time.
It is said that Go was created by Yao in ancient times. It has been passed down to this day and the gameplay of Go has been developed very maturely.
Ma Rong once praised the game of Go in "Ode to Weiqi": From a brief look at Go, the method is to use troops. A three-foot game is the battlefield. When the soldiers are gathered together, the two enemies are evenly matched.
Because the gameplay of Go is closely related to the formation of troops in the Art of War, current military leaders still like this sport.
When Sun Ce, the previous lord of Jiangdong, was still in power, he would always play chess and discuss military and state affairs with his close advisors.
Under the leadership of Sun Ce, among the three major forces in the world, the Jiangdong generals loved this activity the most.
Perhaps to kill boring time, or perhaps to relieve physical pain, Lu Meng happily invited Sima Yi to play chess together today.
The reason why Lu Meng chose to play chess with Sima Yi was because during the time he spent with Sima Yi day and night, Lu Meng realized that Sima Yi was also a man who knew how to fight.
Only those who play chess can experience the greatest pleasure of this activity by playing chess with someone who knows how to play chess.
The second reason is that Sima Yi is the only person in the army who knows about his condition.
Playing chess will make people concentrate on it, and Lu Meng didn't want his body's subconscious reactions to make other people see that there was something wrong with him when his mind was focused on playing chess.
In Lu Meng's dormitory, Lu Meng held the black chess piece and Sima Yi held the white flag.
Looking at the situation on the chessboard at this moment, the white chess piece representing Sima Yi is being suppressed by the black chess piece representing Lu Meng in the four corners of the chessboard, and he is about to lose.
But looking at Sima Yi's expression, he didn't seem to be upset at all about his impending defeat.
On the contrary, he had a relaxed and natural look on his face, as if facing the situation where defeat was already certain, he seemed to have a backup plan.
After spending time with Lu Meng, Sima Yi, who knew that he could not resist, had completely calmed down.
Anyway, as long as he didn't make any move, Lu Meng would always treat him like a distinguished guest, which made Sima Yi feel a lot more at ease.
When Lu Meng faced a situation on the chessboard where his side was in a good situation, his face was filled with a heavy look.
During his time with Sima Yi, he had played chess with Sima Yi many times.
After many games with Sima Yi, Lu Meng also discovered Sima Yi's chess playing style.
That is, he is good at forbearing when the situation is unfavorable.
He would even deliberately sell a few loopholes in order to make his enemies careless.
But once the opponent reveals a flaw due to carelessness, he will decisively seize this rare flaw and deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.
Precisely because he understood Sima Yi's chess style, Lu Meng did not dare to be careless even if he seemed to have the upper hand.
After pondering for a long time, when Lu Meng felt that everything was infallible, he was finally about to make the crucial move, when Han Dang's loud request for permission was heard outside the dormitory.
"Grand Governor, I have something important to report."
Han Dang's tone was full of anxiety, and his tone seriously delayed Lu Meng's actions.
After hearing Han Dang's request for an audience, Lu Meng frowned deeply.
He didn't frown because Han Dang interrupted his chess game, but because Han Dang's anxious tone gave him a bad premonition.
Could it be that something happened to Sun Huan?
Han Dang has been in the army for more than 40 years and is a rare veteran. Ordinarily, ordinary things would not make him so anxious to report.
And since it was Han Jin who came to report, it must be a military matter.
Lu Meng, who was smart, suddenly thought that there might be news coming from Sun Huan's forward army.
But thinking that Sun Huan had 6,000 elite soldiers in his hands, plus the assistance of Zhou Rui appointed by him, Lu Meng was not too worried.
Lu Meng ordered the waiter beside him to bring Han Dang in.
Soon after, Han Dang, led by Lü Meng's waiter, came to Lü Meng.
The moment Han Dang saw Lu Meng, he quickly bowed to Lu Meng and was about to report.
But after Han Dang saw that Sima Yi was also there, he subconsciously stopped trying to report it.
Seeing Han Dang's behavior, Sima Yi understood in his heart that it was because of his presence that he was about to leave wisely.
But at this time Lu Meng said, "It doesn't matter, Zhongda doesn't need to leave."
"Just what Mr. Han said."
Lu Meng felt that the military affairs that made Han Dang worried and anxious must be a big deal.
Something like this may soon spread throughout the world.
Moreover, Sima Yi has always been under his control, and he is not afraid of Sima Yi leaking the secret at all.
In this case, there is no need to ask Sima Yi to leave.
Seeing that Lu Meng didn't mind Sima Yi's presence, Han Dang no longer had any scruples.
Thinking of the news he had just received, he could no longer hold back the anxiety in his heart and blurted out,
"I just reported back from the defeated troops at the front. Just two days ago, when Captain Sun led 6,000 elite troops to the outside of the public security city, the public security guard Mi Yang half-way invited them to attack.
Sun, Captain Sun's entire army was almost wiped out."
"And Captain Sun and Lieutenant Zhou are temporarily missing."
After Han Dang finished reporting, even Lu Meng couldn't hide his surprise when he heard the news.
Because of the shock in his heart, the chess piece in his hand fell to the chessboard with a "clang" because he was distracted.
Lu Meng blurted out, "Why are six thousand troops like this?"
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!