After Liu Xi ascended the throne, Tao Shang used Chen Deng as Shangshu Ling and Mi Zhu as Shangshu Lang to find ways to win over and appease the Jiangnan noble families, and then sent Lu Su and his eldest brother Tai Shici, Tao Ji and others to lead Xuzhou's old civil and military guards to Pengcheng.
, defending against Yuan Shao in the north, he himself was a strong force, preparing for the first confrontation with the Sanliu Puppet Dynasty Group in Jingzhou.
The Sanliu Group also unanimously prepared for a real tough battle with the pottery merchants.
This battle is inevitable for both sides.
You have to win whether you fight or not. Winning or losing is secondary, but this matter must be done.
Facing a puppet North Korean group that is opposed to our own, if we can't move a sword or a gun and just shout nonsense from the air, we will be a bit inferior.
Looking back, this matter will not look good in the eyes of the common people and nobles in the world.
On the one hand, the pottery merchants arranged the layout of the north and the protection of the south. In addition, they also transferred grain, grass and warships from Jinling City and other places for the westward expedition.
Jiangdong and Jingzhou are almost completely bordered by each other. The counties connecting the two borders are Jiangxia County in the north and Changsha County in the south.
Nowadays, most of Changsha County is controlled by Zhang Xian, a rebel general from Jingzhou, and Zhang Xian was among those who were instigated by Tao Shang to rebel. Therefore, the place where the Jingzhou soldiers and Jinling troops will fight will definitely not be in Changsha County.
In this way, the border area between Jiangxia County and the northern part of Yuzhang County will become the main battlefield of this battle.
The pottery merchants also paid a lot of attention to Liu Biao's information.
It is said that Liu Zhang of Xichuan sent General Zhang Ren to lead his troops out of Xichuan Pass, leading 30,000 elite troops to fight with Liu Biao.
However, the pottery merchants were not particularly worried about the Sichuan Army.
Because the handover between Jiangxia County and Yuzhang County is almost a semi-water route, and Huang Zu has also accumulated a lot of battlefields in Jiangxia in recent years, so this time the water battle is about whether the two sides can win.
key.
In the past few years, Tao Shang had many battles with Yuan Shu, and he had accumulated a lot of warships and equipment for water battles. However, as far as he knew, Liu Biao had no shortage of them, so this battle could be considered evenly matched.
After the grain, fodder, warships and weapons were prepared, the potter no longer stopped. He planned to take action first and drive his troops straight to the border of Jiangxia County.
Since Liu Biao wanted to fight, the potter would choose the warship at his home ground.
Although the home field has geographical advantages, the confrontation between the two armies will definitely harm the territory of the home field, and the pottery merchants are reluctant to part with their territory.
After the spring of the first year of Jiankang, on April 15th, the pottery merchants went to Nanchang City to offer sacrifices to heaven, and ordered Tao Ying and Lu Dai to guard the imperial capital of Nanchang. He himself followed the emperor's order and received the emperor's edict, ordering the emperor's army of the Han Dynasty to go westward, up the river.
Then go straight to Changwu County in Jiangxia County.
Liu Biao gathered his troops and went out to worship the heaven in Jiangling. The three Liu armies went out together with Fu Wan, and went straight to Jiangxia Junhui and Huang Zu to fight with the pottery merchants.
This time, Tao Shang sent all his generals who were good at land warfare to guard the central army. The vanguard generals were all naval generals, including Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Dong Xi, Xu Sheng, Ling Cao, and Pan.
Twelve generals including Zhang, He Qi, Xian Yudan, Song Qian, Jia Hua, and Xu Zhong led the navy to divide and conquer, echoing their own land forces, marching westward on both land and water.
But before setting off for the expedition, there was a little incident in the pottery merchant's camp.
A general came to the pottery merchant to ask for an official position!
This man was Qu Yi, who surrendered to the pottery merchants in the previous battle of Guandu.
When Qu Yi stood in front of the pottery merchant, there was no humility on his face. Instead, he looked arrogant, arrogant, and not polite at all...
All in all, it looks very unsmooth.
The pottery merchant could now understand Yuan Shao's mood back then.
Given Qu Yi's aggressive temperament, it's strange that the arrogant Yuan Shao didn't want to kill him.
Tao Shang felt that he was quite open-minded, but when facing Qu Yi, he still had the urge to press his face to the ground and rub him.
There is no reason, I just want to rub him.
In this world, there are really not many people who just look at their virtues and criticize them without saying a word.
"The last general has met the Prime Minister." Qu Yi cupped his hands and said it politely, but it was hard to hear it in his tone.
The pottery merchant gently flicked the dust off his sleeves and said, "So Mr. Qu came here today. What's the matter?"
Qu Yi was not polite and said bluntly: "The prime minister promised that he will come at the end of the year?"
Tao Shang gently touched his chin, thought carefully for a while and said, "Tao has made many wishes in his life and promised many things to others. I wonder which one General Qu is talking about?"
Qu Yi stared at Tao Shang closely and said: "When the general surrendered to the prime minister, the prime minister promised him that he would support the emperor in his ascension to the throne in the future. When he decreed that the general should be given military positions above those of the four generals, would the prime minister have done so?
Remember this?"
The pottery merchant secretly laughed at the fact that Qu Yi had a pretty good memory.
He pretended to think carefully for a while, and said quietly: "It seems that there is such a thing, right?"
Qu Yi quickly raised his hands and said, "Then I wonder when the prime minister will fulfill his promise to the last general?"
"But it doesn't seem like that's the case." The pottery merchant said quietly.
Qu Yi's eyes suddenly widened: "Prime Minister! If you think about it more carefully! How could it not be possible?"
"Yes or no? I can't remember clearly, my mind is so confused."
Qu Yi took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.
This was him. If it had been someone else, Qu Yi would have kicked him in the balls.
"Taifu, please don't try to deceive the general!" Qu Yi was obviously unhappy.
The potter smiled slightly and said: "General Qu really doesn't know how to tease. I'm trying to trick you into playing. Can't you tell?"
Your mother!
How old am I?
Are you coaxing me to play?
Are you pretending to be my dad?
Tao Shang sighed and explained: "Actually, I still have a free general who conquers the north, and he has been waiting for it. This one was originally reserved for the general..."
Qu Yi almost shouted out loud when he heard this.
Then you should hurry up and issue an edict to seal it!
You are still bitching your ass here!
Seeing the anxious look on Qu Yi's face, Tao Shang said slowly: "It's just that I'm afraid that the generals will not be convinced."
Qu Yi glared when he heard this and said, "Why don't you accept it?"
"Because the general has not made any great military exploits."
Qu Yi almost jumped up out of breath when he heard this.
"Prime Minister, what you say is a bit unscrupulous! If there were no generals in the battle of Guandu, how could the Tao and Cao armies defeat Yuan Shao? If it were not for me, I am afraid that the Central Plains and Xuzhou would now be in Yuan Shao's hands.
"
The smile on the pottery merchant's face remained unchanged, but he felt...very unhappy in his heart.
As expected, Qu Yi was somewhat arrogant in taking credit for the Battle of Guandu.
In his heart, he felt that without his Qu Yi, he and Cao Cao might have been destroyed by Yuan Shao long ago.
He now regarded himself as the potter's benefactor.
If he continues with this mentality, how will he be able to manage his team in the future?
Tao Shang made up his mind and said with emotion: "Tao naturally knows the general's achievements. The problem is to give advice. The generals don't know. The general has just arrived. If he wants to be a good general in the northern expedition, he must at least establish some abilities.
Isn't it the merit of convincing everyone? Is it possible that if I forcibly appoint the general as a general, if anyone refuses to accept it, can I still kill them all? "
Qu Yi said loudly: "Then kill them all, what can we do?"
"General Qu, be sensible... speak with dignity."
Qu Yi took a deep breath and said: "Okay! I understand what the Prime Minister said! Isn't it just meritorious service? In this time of the westward expedition to Jingzhou, the Prime Minister's troops were divided into two water routes. The prime minister was the vanguard of the water route.
Now that I have made my choice, I am willing to serve as the vanguard in the land battle and make contributions to convince everyone. I wonder if the Prime Minister thinks it is feasible?"
Tao Shang said slowly: "Yes, yes, but we must issue a military order. After all, this is the first battle against the puppet dynasty, and there is no room for failure."