Three of the four counties in Jingnan were selected, and it only took less than a month. By a strange combination of circumstances, Liu Bei's reputation started in Jingzhou after the Battle of Chibi.
Of course, those with a discerning eye know that Liu Bei actually did not waste a single soldier. He was able to capture so many cities only because the prefects of Wuling, Changsha, and Guiyang counties came out to greet them. If the prefects of Jingnan counties were really there,
When we gather together, we still don't know who will win.
But the people don't care about this at all.
Because Liu Bei swept across Jingnan, and there were many Jingnan righteous men around him who traveled thousands of miles to join him, Liu Bei's momentum to become bigger in Jingnan could no longer be stopped.
Zhou Yu's temporary surrender of Jiangling to Liu Bei was of course an expedient measure. When Liu Biao was still alive, the Soochow people wanted to take over Nanjun more than once, and wanted to capture Jingnan in one fell swoop, but they fought back and forth for so many years.
, but never really took any advantage.
Under such circumstances, the Jingzhou gentry group headed by Liu Biao's old tribe naturally rejected the Soochow people.
Unlike Xiangyang, which has fallen into the hands of Cao Cao, and the Kuai family, Cai family and other famous families have defected to Cao Cao, most of the remaining people do not want to work with Cao Cao.
Under such circumstances, to the east were the hated Sun Quan and Soochow, and to the north were the recently defeated Cao Cao. Let the Jingnan nobles choose, and of course they would only choose Liu Bei.
Zhou Yu also knew this situation. In addition, the battle at Hefei basically wiped out all the savings of Soochow for so many years. Although the nobles were more seriously injured, after all, they were also Soochow people.
With more ambition but less strength, Sun Quan basically sent out a message that he wanted to recuperate, so Zhou Yu had no choice but to obey.
Occupying Jiangling will only make the current Soochow Wu continue to be harassed by Cao Ren in the north. It will also have to be constantly wary of those people in Jingnan who are already opposed to Soochow. Freeing Jiangling and helping Liu Bei are all actions of interest.
but…
Obviously, Zhou Yu is really depressed now.
Because, although they had the purpose of helping Liu Bei and selling favors conveniently, they did not intend to suffer a loss.
They want a share of the pie in Guiyang, they want to hold on to Jiangxia, and they also want to hold on to the area north of the Yangtze River in Jiangling.
However, the fact is that because many people from Jingnan took the initiative to defect to Liu Bei unexpectedly, Liu Bei took over basically all the land in Nan County without doing anything.
——Zhou Yu felt miserable. He said: "Although I said that I would compensate you and hand over Jiangling City to you, but I didn't say that I would give up the entire Nanjun?"
But there are some things that are like water thrown out when spoken out. No matter what you do, you can't take it back.
And the key thing that confuses Zhou Yu the most is Lujiang - Lujiang was originally a majestic city that Soochow had spent a lot of effort to build. From the time when Jiangdong was still under Sun Ce's command, they had smashed countless weapons near Lujiang.
With our own manpower and material resources, we thought that we could use the Lujiang River as a springboard and radiate to the surrounding areas, so that we could quickly capture Hefei and Shouchun. It was not impossible to march into Runan and directly capture Xudu.
Until the eve of the Battle of Chibi, Lujiang was in good condition. As a stronghold for the Soochow people to advance northward, it was firmly rooted in the territory.
However…
The Battle of Hefei is indeed over. From Xiangyang to Hefei, all three parties in this area have stood still due to the aftermath of the Battle of Chibi. No one dares to provoke others easily.
But just because there are no big moves, it doesn’t mean there are no small moves.
Just like Cao Ren's sneak attack on Jiangling, the battle of more than a thousand people still started in real time.
Maybe it was because of Sun Quan's tragic defeat in the Battle of Hefei, which caused people around Lujiang to panic - although they finally captured Wancheng and slightly pushed the northern border towards Cao Cao, but... Lujiang is still there.
It is located at the junction of the Sun and Cao families.
With Zhang Liao's reputation in front, Cao Cao, who had regained his composure, sent additional generals such as Yu Jin, Xia Houyuan, and Zang Ba to eliminate the bandits in the Lujiang area of Huainan. It seemed that he had planned to pay great attention to the defense of this area and was always looking for it.
The Soochow people are weak and have a chance to see if they can snatch any meat from the Soochow people.
Under such circumstances, the bandits who had been roaming around the Lujiang River since early years were the most miserable.
When life was stable, they lived a very comfortable life, grabbing this and that, and when officers and soldiers came to suppress them, they patted their butts and left.
Because Sun Quan did not care about the bandits, mainly because these bandits did cause a lot of trouble to Cao Cao. After all, they were locals, and they could not take action against the Soochow people. As a result, the bandits here developed more and more, and finally turned out to be
It has a considerable scale.
The largest group among them is undoubtedly the Lujiang bandits led by Chen Lan and Lei Xu.
Their harassment of Cao Cao made Cao Cao want to punish them many years ago.
Maybe it was because of the clever tactics of Liu Fu, the governor of Yangzhou, that Lei Xu and others did not continue to rebel. Unfortunately, Liu Fu died of illness a year before the Battle of Chibi. Without Liu Fu's suppression, Lei Xu and others recovered from their rebellion.
It's going crazy.
No - when Xia Houyuan, Zang Ba, Yu Jin and others came, they beat Lei Xu and Chen Lan and ran away. Chen Lan felt better and thought he could do it. He went to provoke Zhang Liao desperately, but Xia Houyuan, Zang Ba and others went after Lei Xu.
, Zhang Liao, on the other hand, was near Hefei and directly took over Chen Lan's lair.
Chen Lan is dead and Lei Xu's biggest ally is gone. What can he do?
Escape - but after escaping back to Soochow, what do the people of Soochow think of them?
Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and others may think that they are bandits but they are useful after all, so they don't care about them much. However, after they are defeated and truly become rogues, Soochow's attitude towards them will probably change drastically.
Turn.
So after thinking like this, Lei Xu made a decision that Zhou Yu didn't expect.
"Leixu? How many people? Say it again?"
Zhou Yu looked at the messenger outside the door who had just arrived at Wulin Port, and asked with a stiff face.
"Fifty...fifty thousand people...I heard that Lei Xu dragged his family and took away his wife and children...When we received the news, Lei Xu had already arrived near Jiangling..."
With a bang... Zhou Yu bumped his head against the table in front of him, causing the tea bowls on the table to scatter on the floor.
The sound of crackling porcelain and breaking caused Xiao Qiao, who was making tea behind the tent, to come out to investigate.
"What happened?"
"No...it's okay..."
Looking at Xiao Qiao with a worried look on his face, Zhou Yu covered his bleeding forehead and took a deep breath.
He wanted to recruit Zhuge Liang, and he also wanted to make good friends with Liu Bei...but it didn't mean that he wanted to see Liu Bei grow so quickly.
Fifty thousand people - the fifty thousand people who suddenly joined Liu Bei's camp. Even if those fifty thousand people were just bandits, Zhou Yu believed that as long as Zhuge Liang was around, they would soon become an elite team.
"Prepare a boat for me, I'm going to see my lord..."