But now it seems that this is the only option. The Jiangdong navy was beaten to the point of collapse by Jiang Siming's navy.
Only three-quarters of the original two thousand warships remained in less than an hour. If this rate continues, all Jiangdong warships will be wiped out in less than three hours.
Liu Bei immediately found Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan and expressed his intention to abandon Red Cliff.
Unexpectedly, the two of them agreed immediately. Instead of waiting here for Jiang Siming to attack, they might as well run away first as a sign of respect.
The three of them hit it off immediately and prepared to lead their troops back to land to defend the city.
Sun Quan became anxious when he saw it.
"If you abandon me at Soochow now, aren't you a treacherous villain?"
Cao Cao was the best at deceiving. He walked up and pointed to the river and said: "Sun Zhongmou, see for yourself. Your Jiangdong navy is about to perish. If you run with us now, there is still a glimmer of hope. What if you wait until the navy is completely destroyed?"
, when Jiang Bei comes ashore, you will die without a burial place."
Sun Quan was frightened, and indeed saw that his navy was beaten into disarray.
"But...as the lord of Jiangdong, if I escape before the battle, the morale of the army will definitely be in chaos." Sun Quan said hesitantly.
Liu Bei came over and followed Cao Cao's brother: "What's the problem? You can just let Zhou Gongjin continue to stand here. Originally, this Chibi strategy was his bad idea, and he should be allowed to bear the consequences."
When Sun Quan heard this, although he was a little reluctant to leave Zhou Yu as a general, at this time, the husband and wife would have to fly away when the disaster comes, let alone the principal and ministers.
Zhou Yu was still commanding the battle on the handsome ship when he received a report from his men and all the four princes fled.
"You bastards! They ran away first while our soldiers were still in the bloody battle. They clearly ignored us!" Zhou Yu was so angry that he cursed his mother.
But at this time, he had no choice but to continue commanding the battle and try to fight back.
But Zhou Yu could only watch helplessly as one Jiangdong warship was sunk one after another.
As for Jiang Siming, only ten warships have been knocked down so far.
This disparity in strength made Zhou Yu's eyes filled with despair.
Finally, after fighting on the water for a full three hours, only the stumps of the two thousand ships on the east side of the river were left with broken limbs, and less than a few dozen ships could barely float on the river.
The willpower of Jiangdong Navy has also been completely defeated.
Zhou Yu had no choice but to abandon his beloved handsome ship and run back to the land, and then fled to the city with less than a hundred remaining soldiers.
This also indicates that Jiang Siming successfully won the Jiangdong waters and became the strongest overlord in China's waters.
Now, all that remains is to capture the cities in Jiangdong.
Seeing that victory was imminent, Jiang Siming did not rush into the army rashly, but temporarily let the soldiers camp and let twenty giant ships transport all the siege equipment.
Without siege equipment, if the city is attacked by force, a large number of soldiers will lose their lives.
The world is about to be unified, and his subordinates will soon be able to share the fruits of victory with him. Jiang Siming does not want this final battle to bring down many of his subordinates who could have survived until the end.
Although Jiang Siming didn't say it explicitly, all the soldiers were not stupid. They could feel the care and concern of their lord.
In the past, when a great victory was imminent, there were actually very few soldiers willing to charge, because no one wanted to risk their lives and charge into battle when victory was imminent.
But Jiang Siming's soldiers were completely different. They spontaneously organized a vanguard and rushed to sign up.
I am willing to wait for the master to call for war and rush to the front at any time.
Jiang Siming was very relieved to hear the news. He did not become the master in vain, at least he was qualified.
In the past few days while Jiang Siming's army was still waiting for siege equipment, all the cities in Jiangdong were already frightened.
The walls, gates and moats of each city were widened and raised several times, and the four princes divided their troops to guard each city.
The reason why they did not join forces was because Jiang Siming had too many troops, and he could divide his troops to attack other cities at the same time.
The four princes had no choice but to station their troops in the fortress city to prevent Jiang Siming from sneak attack.
During the few days of waiting, Jiang Siming was not idle. He asked scribes from all the prefectures and counties under his rule to work overnight to write a royal edict.
Then put them in bamboo tubes and place them in the Yangtze River Basin, letting them flow to every city so that all people can see them.
The general meaning of Wang Zhao’s edict is:
King Ming's million-strong army has already killed every scrap of Jiangdong's navy, and will soon attack all the cities. He advises all Jiangdong people and officials that if you don't resist, King Ming will keep you safe. Anyone who participates in the resistance will be punished.
Deal with them together as thieves.
The implication is just eight words: Those who obey me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish!
Wang Zhao, who was so domineering and without any hint of coquettishness, immediately spread to every household in Jiangdong.
When all the people saw this royal edict, they were so frightened that they could not leave their homes, and they could not move in the face of the high-tech conscription of the four major princes.
Many Jiangdong officials also began to consider surrendering.
It can be said that Jiang Siming's imperial edict has easily destroyed most of the people in Jiangdong.
Liu Bei and the others naturally received it, but they couldn't do anything about it. Jiang Siming has such confidence. What can you do to him?
Now the only option is to defend the city, then forcefully recruit troops to resist Jiang Siming, and then slowly plan for it.
A few days passed, and all the siege equipment was finally transported to Jiangdong.
Jiang Siming walked out of the king's tent, followed by a group of core men.
"How long do you think it will take to clean up Jiangdong?" Jiang Siming suddenly looked at the sky and asked with emotion.
The subordinates behind me all gave different answers. Some said a few days, some said half a month, and some said a few months.
Jiang Siming laughed after hearing this and said: "It's a good thing that everyone is so confident, but be careful not to be impetuous and complacent. Often, the closer you are to success, the easier it is to stumble."
"That's what my lord said."
"Haha, let's go, it's time for us to end this troubled world."
Jiang Siming waved and the army set off!
The first target is the nearest important city in Jiangdong, Zigui City!
Zigui was guarded by Gongsun Zan and was originally given to Sun Quan.
However, Sun Quan's losses were too heavy and he was unable to defend the fortress. In the end, he had no choice but to let Gongsun Zan come.
When Zigui returned to the city, Gongsun Zan treated him sternly and even personally supervised the battle at the city tower.
Less than half an hour after the scout reported the news, he saw a tidal wave of troops on the horizon from outside the city gate.
Gongsun Zan couldn't help but tighten the sword in his hand, and his heart fell to the bottom.
Is he sure he can stop a million-strong army with 200,000 troops...
The army came to the city gate, but did not immediately begin to attack the city.
A royal cart was rolled out from the army, and Jiang Siming was sitting on it, peeling oranges and eating them.
When he reached the front of the battle, Jiang Siming calmly stood up from the king's chair and spit out a few seeds.
"Brother Bogui, long time no see!"
.....
[Author's digression]: Third update~ (To be continued)