Chapter 236 The Hongkou Conference Allied with Jiangdong
Chapter 236 Hongkou Conference, alliance with Jiangdong
April 2, the 13th year of Jian'an.
After noon, the morning white fog floating on the river had dispersed.
On the vast Yangtze River, a large ship sailed from east to west on the rolling waves.
Boating against the current is not very fast, but there are almost no boats on the wide river except for some fishermen's fishing boats on the shore.
So the soldiers rowing the boats worked hard and sailed hard. The big ship rode the wind and waves and galloped all the way to the southwest.
Shen Chen stood on the boat and looked at the hills on the south bank and the forests on the north bank. The hills were majestic and tall, and the forests were vast and boundless.
The wide Yangtze River is full of roaring waves, and there is a wide lake mouth in the northwest. Beyond the lake mouth is Yunmengze, which is as endless as the ocean.
"Is this the Red Cliff?"
Shen Chen asked Qu Gan, the deputy general next to him, who had never been to this place before.
Because before going from Jingzhou to Jiangxia, we took the Han River directly to Shaxianxiakou, and from here to Shaxianxiakou we have to go up the river hundreds of miles, and if we go further south, we will reach Dongting Lake, so this is his first time. Come once.
Qu Gan smiled and said: "This place is indeed called Red Cliff. One hundred and sixty miles from Puqi along the river, the south bank is Red Cliff, and the north bank is called Wulin. There is a lake entrance in Wulin and you enter Yunmengze. Go south along Red Cliff and you will arrive at Qingcao Lake. Qingcao Lake The lake, also known as Baqiu Lake, is close to Baqiu Mountain, and since then the south of the lake has been called Jingnan."
"Jingnan?"
Shen Chen looked to the south. If this was the case, then Qingcao Lake seemed to be Dongting Lake, past Dongting Lake.
Dongting Lake...
Further south, it’s my hometown before I crossed over.
Just as he was thinking about it, the fleet had already turned to the right, followed the lake entrance into Yunmengze, and headed northwest.
The vast expanse of Yunmeng Ze is like a vast ocean. Shen Chen looked around and determined that this place should be the battlefield of the Battle of Chibi at the end of this year in history, because only here could accommodate Cao Jun and thousands of ships from Jiangdong to fight.
Wulin is a narrow strip of land on the north shore, which can also be said to be a huge island between the lake and the river. To the north of Wulin is Yunmengze, and the entire land mass is sandwiched between the Yangtze River and Yunmengze.
At that time, Cao's army was estimated to be stationed on the bank of Wulin, where the ships were anchored, while the coalition forces of Sun and Liu were stationed at Chibi on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River.
A fire caused Cao Cao to flee north in embarrassment.
So strictly speaking, this battle should be called the Battle of Huoshuo Wulin, or the Battle of Yunmengze.
There are few people here. Although Wulin is a long and narrow island, the landmass is actually very large, perhaps hundreds of square kilometers.
Many villages have been established along the coast of the island. Although no administrative area is planned as a town, it has obviously become a paradise for human beings to thrive.
After the fleet entered Yunmengze, which was the area of Honghu Lake in later generations, they continued to go west. Shen Chen estimated that after Cao Cao's defeat in Chibi, he took a boat and fled to Huarong County in the northwest.
However, they did not go to Huarong County, but went all the way west to a place called Hongkou, which was probably located in the area of Zhuhe Town southeast of Jianli City, Hubei Province in later generations.
At this time, this place is a rare continent. To the north is the magnificent Yunmengze, to the west is the Yangtze River, and to the south is Dongting Lake. There is an island-like place between the two large lakes and the Yangtze River. When Yunmengze disappears in later generations, , and then it became land.
The Jianli City of later generations, as well as the 40 or 50 kilometers to the north of Jianli City, more than 70 kilometers to Jiangling County in the northwest, and Honghu Lake in the east, are now Yunmengze. In other words, the Jianli City of later generations is still surrounded by Yunmengze. Blowing bubbles at the bottom of Mengze Lake.
The fleet arrived at the shore of Hongkou. The shore was overgrown with reeds and the weeds were taller than people. Since the Yangtze River in the Han Dynasty would submerge the place every flood season, there was almost no human habitation within a hundred miles.
However, after the fleet docked, everyone saw smoke rising from a small hill in the distance.
That small hill is located on the bank of the Yangtze River connecting Yunmengze.
"Over there!"
Qu Gan pointed in the direction of the hill and said.
Shen Chen nodded: "Get off the boat, I dare you to stay here."
"only."
Qu Gan got the order and shouted: "Get off the boat."
The soldiers on the side of the boat used ropes to lower the boat. Shen Chen and several rowers sat in this scout flying boat and rowed into the mouth of the river.
Soon the hill was getting closer and closer, and from a distance one could already see the boats and soldiers stationed on the river below the hill.
"Little sir!"
After the boat docked, there were already people shouting on the shore.
Shen Chen looked over and saw that a temporary pavilion had been built under the forest not far from the river. Several people were waiting outside the pavilion. When they saw the boat approaching, they all came to greet it.
"Mr. Xuande!"
"Mr. Xianhe."
"Mr. Gongyou."
"Brother Kong Ming!"
Shen Chen saw them one by one. These people were Liu Bei, Jian Yong, Sun Qian and Zhuge Liang.
He received news a few days ago that Liu Bei asked him to meet here today to discuss strategies to deal with Liu Cong.
Historically, Liu Biao was kind to Liu Bei, although he was secretly suspicious of him, and there was even an incident where Cai Mao and Kuai Yue tried to murder him.
But in the end Liu Biao did not substantively persecute Liu Bei, so Liu Bei was very grateful to Liu Biao.
According to the "Book of Wei" records, before Liu Biao died, he even wanted to give Jingzhou to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei repeatedly refused, which finally led to Jingzhou being acquired by Liu Cong.
Later, when Cao Cao attacked Nanyang and Xinye fled south and passed through Xiangyang, many aristocratic families in the city were willing to defect to Liu Bei and opened Xiangyang City to let him in. However, Liu Bei could not bear to attack Liu Cong and gave up.
But now that Liu Biao proclaimed himself emperor, Liu Bei, who had always admired Liu Xie as Emperor of the Han Dynasty, became furious. Although he did not have any enemies with him, he no longer felt grateful to Liu Biao.
After all, no matter what, Liu Biao lost his righteousness when he proclaimed himself emperor. Secondly, he helped Liu Biao work, so he didn't owe Liu Biao anything.
So after Liu Biao died, Liu Bei decided to help Liu Qiping destroy Liu Cong.
Because Liu Qi has always been firmly opposed to Liu Biao proclaiming himself emperor, he himself has no intention of succeeding Liu Biao as the so-called "Emperor of the Han Dynasty", and even urged Liu Biao to respect Emperor Chen Du, so Liu Bei still has a good impression of him on this point. .
At this time, Liu Bei came to Hongkou in person, Liu Qi asked Shen Chen to come over, and Zhuge Liang also arrived here from Jingnan. This is the intersection of three places, adjacent to Nanjun Jiangling and Yiling in the west, Jiangxiashaxian and Xiakou in the east, and Changsha in the south Luo County, Linxiang.
The most important thing is that it is desolate and inhabited, almost a wasteland. Although there are Xiangyang garrison in Jiangling area, which is Cai Mao's Yangtze River Navy, they hardly check the ships on the river, so it is very hidden.
At this moment, after Shen Chen got off the ship, he met Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others one by one. Seeing that Liu Bei was only accompanied by Jian Yong and Sun Qian, he asked out of curiosity: "Mr. Xuande, could it be that Uncle Yide is in charge of the Zigui army?"
"How dare you."
Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said: "Yide's good wine can easily cause trouble, so I will make Yuan Zhi the commander-in-chief and Zizhong his deputy. I hope I can keep an eye on Yide and prevent him from causing trouble."
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Although Uncle Yide is a good drinker, he has some fines in both rough and tumble. I used to be afraid that he would cause trouble and get into trouble with him, but later I found that if it was for the great cause of Xuande Gong, Uncle Yide would give it up." He will not cherish his life, so this is a critical moment, I believe he will not be like this."
"Um."
Liu Bei also laughed: "Yide is indeed like this. Come, young gentleman, let's go and sit in the pavilion."
As Shen Chen walked, he said with some emotion: "Unknowingly, more than ten years have passed. Now that I have reached the crown, Duke Xuande still calls me as before."
"Don't you like it, little sir?"
Liu Bei smiled and said: "I also saw you talking in front of Gongzu Gong, like a young adult and a gentleman, so I called you like this. If Xiaoqing doesn't like it, I will call you "豼" .”
"That's not true."
Shen Chen shook his head and said: "It's just that time flies by and time flies by, so I feel a sudden emotion. If Mr. Xuande doesn't give up, you can call me Mr. Master for as long as you want."
As they spoke, the two of them arrived at the pavilion. Several mats had been spread inside the pavilion, and there were many soldiers guarding it outside.
After everyone sat down, Zhuge Liang said: "Xiaoqing, how is Xinye?"
They all knew that Cai Mao had gone north to attack Xinye a few days ago, but because Xinye was too far away from Jingnan and Jiangxia was relatively close, no one knew the situation there now.
Shen Chen said with a solemn expression: "We are not optimistic. Although Gan Ning fought hard to repel the enemy, the morale of the army is not very stable and he may have to retreat to Huangmen Pavilion."
"The morale of the military is unstable?"
Jian Yong on the side wondered: "Why is it unstable?"
Liu Bei said: "It must be because the soldiers' families are all in the city, and they are at war with each other, so the soldiers in Jingzhou are fighting each other."
"yes."
Shen Chen nodded, it was indeed what Liu Bei had guessed.
The source of Gan Ning's army was not like Shen Chen's, who used the Huangmenting clan as the backbone and then recruited elite young men for training, but Liu Biao's army.
At that time, Liu Biao gained a large population, which made the Nanyang Basin prosperous again. Grain and grass gradually became abundant, so he recruited more soldiers.
This means that Cai Mao's army and Gan Ning's army were essentially the same team.
Now the two armies suddenly began to fight among themselves, and they were fighting against each other. In addition, they were afraid that the city would be broken and their families would be harmed, so their fighting spirit was not high.
The good news is that Cai Mao's siege skills were terrible. Although Gan Ning was a general and had never commanded a large-scale battle in history, he was actually very talented in tactics.
During Sun Quan's several attacks on Huang Zu, and later in the Battle of Nanjun when Zhou Yu defeated Cao Ren, he provided strategies to help Jiangdong capture Jiangxia and Nanjun.
Therefore, although the soldiers' fighting spirit was not high, Gan Ning was still able to face Cai Mao's attack with ease. He repelled the invading enemies several times and shocked the new country.
It's just that it's not a good thing if it goes on like this for a long time. The morale of the army has not been rising. Once Cai Mao deploys more troops and horses to besiege, he is afraid that the more than 10,000 Jingzhou soldiers in the city will choose to rebel, which will be bad at that time.
So we have to think of other ways.
Shen Chen continued: "I plan to send a partial division from Zhangling to the north, join forces with Huangmenting soldiers, and attack Cai Mao's rear."
"Do you want me to lead the troops to attack Xiangyang, surround Wei and rescue Zhao?"
Liu Bei asked.
Zhuge Liang said: "My lord, please don't be impatient and take your time."
"good."
Shen Chen also said: "It is true that we should lay out the strategy first and then come up with the tactics of sending troops."
Liu Bei was curious for a moment: "What is strategy?"
Zhuge Liang explained: "The purpose is to achieve the goal through war. War is a means to complete the strategy. For example, the plan I made for my lord to conquer Bashu to the west and seize Jingzhou to the south is a strategy."
The word strategy comes from the Tang Dynasty. There was no strategy in the Han Dynasty. Zhuge Liang only knew that strategy and tactics should be separated after talking with Shen Chen before. Before, they were both called planning.
"I see."
Liu Bei thought about it and realized that planning like this would indeed make people's minds clearer.
"So what are our strategic goals?"
Shen Chen asked a question.
Liu Bei said without hesitation: "Of course it is to support the Han Dynasty."
"This is grand strategy."
Shen Chen said: "Now we have to implement a small stage strategy in Jingzhou, such as acquiring Jingzhou or Yizhou."
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Defeat Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, depose Liu Cong as the puppet emperor, support the eldest son, and rule Jingzhou together with the eldest son, then seize Bashu in the west, seize Jiangdong in the east, and then go north to conquer the world."
"good."
Shen Chen nodded and said, "Then we should consider how to implement it specifically. What do you think, brother?"
Zhuge Liang thought deeply: "Liu Pan in Jingnan has been acquired by us, and then the prefects and soldiers of the four counties in Jingnan will all belong to Xiangyang. If we go north, we may be attacked from both sides, so we must eliminate future troubles."
"Take the four counties of Jingnan first?"
"right."
"That's true, but for the alliance between Duke Xuande and the eldest son, someone must take the lead."
Shen Chen put forward his opinion.
A snake cannot survive without a head. When a war breaks out in the future, who will make the decision?
Therefore, although it is a joint army, it must have unified command, otherwise it will not be subordinate to each other and will harm each other.
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "Didn't Xiaoqing convince the eldest son?"
Shen Chen also laughed: "There has to be a situation, the eldest son has indeed agreed, and I have brought the covenant. It will be signed by Duke Xuande."
"That's up to me?"
Liu Bei asked tentatively.
"Yes."
Shen Chen nodded: "In this battle with Jiangxia, Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others will definitely be the main ones to attack, so Xuande Gong will naturally not be restricted."
Zhuge Liang gently shook his feather fan and continued: "Since my lord is the leader of the alliance, we will first take the four counties of Jingnan to solve our worries, and then immediately go north and take Xiangyang from Jiangling!"
"This is indeed the right tactical direction."
Shen Chen frowned: "I will find a way to solve Gan Ning's side. At worst, I will retreat to Huangmen Pavilion and let Xinye out. The only thing I am worried about now is other places."
"Koto."
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Xiaoqing is afraid that when we take Nanjun, Xiangyang will attack Jiangxia in a big way, and Jiangdong will be eyeing it and take the opportunity to attack. If there is a flanking attack from the east and west, Jiangxia will not be protected."
"yes."
Shen Chen sighed: "Sun Quan will not miss this opportunity."
Zhuge Liang said: "Therefore, Jiangdong can only assist it. There are many soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, and Sun Quan will be wary of it. Even if he wants to invade, he will definitely come when the eldest son and Liu Cong are both hurt, so we conclude an agreement with them first." Covenant to prevent them from attacking Jiangxia at the critical moment."
Shen Chen's frown became more solemn: "Jiangdong is the most untrustworthy. To conclude an alliance with them is not to seek skin from a tiger. What's more, Sun Quan is eyeing Jiang Xia with covetous eyes. How could he form an alliance with us and abandon Jiang Xia?"
"No."
Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "If they don't agree, the worst possible outcome is that the eldest son will retreat to Jingnan and rule across the river from Xiangyang. At that time, Jiangdong will face the more than 100,000 Jingzhou army currently commanded by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others. They Not so stupid."
Shen Chen remained silent.
yes.
Sun Quan does have a high probability of forming an alliance.
Because the forces in Xiangyang are now very powerful at least on paper. Of the 50,000 people in Nanyang, 40,000 eventually chose to support Xiangyang.
The four counties in Jingnan, plus the prefects and county soldiers from all over the country, have about 20,000 troops. They also have Cai Mao's Yangtze River Navy of more than 40,000 men, and Zhang Yun's Xiangyang garrison of more than 30,000 men. The total strength has reached 1,340,000. Public.
Liu Qi's military strength, even including Liu Pan, was only 50,000, so without considering Liu Bei's external force, Liu Qi actually had no chance of winning against Liu Cong.
If Liu Qi chooses to give up Jiangxia, then based on the current total strength of Jiangdong, which is only 40,000 to 50,000, and deducting the troops left behind, only 30,000 to 40,000 can be dispatched to attack Jiangxia. Facing an army of more than 100,000 such as Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others , it is difficult to barely defend Jiangdong, let alone take the initiative to attack.
Therefore, anyone in Sun Quan's position would gladly agree to form an alliance, so that he would choose to stand still and let Liu Qi think that the rear was stable and Sun Quan would not take the opportunity to attack him, so that he could wholeheartedly fight to the death with the troops sent by Xiangyang.
But the problem is...
When you are at war with Xiangyang, he will not attack.
What happens after the battle?
When the time comes, both sides will suffer losses, so how could Sun Quan not come to take advantage?
Therefore, Shen Chen is not optimistic about the alliance.
But Zhuge Liang sighed: "I know what you are worried about. However, in order to stabilize the overall situation, we have no choice but to do this. If we repel Xiangyang's troops, we will have extra troops to defend Jiangxia and defend Jiangdong."
"I hope so."
Shen Chen was noncommittal, but he had to admit that there was really no way around it.
Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Bei again and said: "My lord, Sun Quan has a feud with General Huang and will never form an alliance with General Huang. Therefore, my lord should send an envoy to Jiangdong to sign an alliance in the name of my lord and the eldest son."
"Um."
Liu Bei said: "Okay, but who should be sent?"
"I'll go."
Sun Qianmao then recommended himself: "Zhang Zhao and Zhang Zibu are from Pengcheng. In the early years, he, Zhao Yu, the prefect of Guangling, and Wang Lang, the prefect of Kuaiji, visited my master. When I went to Jiangdong, I visited him first and asked him to recommend him. Sun Quan."
Liu Bei was overjoyed and said: "Then I will thank you for your help."
Shen Chen said: "In that case, Mr. Gongyou will go with me to Jiangxia. Then I will send someone to escort you to Jiangdong."
"good."
Sun Qian nodded. His teacher was Zheng Xuan, a great scholar in the late Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhao was from Xuzhou, which was close to Beihai, Qingzhou, where Zheng Xuan lived. He had visited it in his early years, so with this reputation, even if he could not get along with Sun Quan. I won't do anything to him.
The meeting is almost over. There are three contents in total. The first is to formally unify the alliance of Liu Bei and Liu Qi, and confirm the dominant position of Liu Bei as the alliance leader.
Second, the strategic and tactical direction is to take Jingnan first to prevent the Jingnan prefects from causing trouble during the northern attack, so as not to be attacked from both front and rear, and then attack Nanjun together with Liu Qi's army, defeat Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, and completely pacify it. Jingzhou.
Third, in order to stabilize Jiangdong and prevent Jiangxia from being pinched from both sides, he sent an envoy to Sun Quan, hoping to conclude an alliance with him.
The meeting covered three major themes: politics, military, and diplomacy. It was an important turning point for Liu Bei to seize Jingzhou as his foundation, and then follow the grand strategic goal of first taking the south and then heading north to the Central Plains in accordance with Zhuge Liang's plan in the Shen Dynasty.