At the end of the year and on New Year's Eve, in Wuchang, Jingzhou, Sun Quan held a banquet for his ministers.
In the Chengde Hall, which was formerly the King Wu's Palace, the music of silk and bamboo was resounding, and the singing and dancing were clear and graceful. The officials from Jiangdong gathered together, exchanging cups and cups, drinking and drinking, and chatting with laughter.
Because the capital had been moved to Jianye long ago, and a large number of secretarial assistants and assistant princes, Sun Deng, had been left behind, there were faint traces of living in the military for a long time on all the banquet guests in the hall.
But in the inner hall, the cauldron was cooking sheep and the bells were singing, and only a few people could enjoy it with the king.
Such as Lu Xun, Zhu Ran, Zhuge Jin, Quan Cong and Pan Rui.
Among them, Pan Rui was ordered by Prince Sun Deng to come here at the end of the year to report on the plans of the treasury officials this year.
These people control almost half of the troops in Jiangdong. Now that they are gathered together, it can be seen that it is not as simple as celebrating the New Year.
It is also obvious what they are discussing - how to deploy troops in Jing Xiang'er next year!
After three rounds of drinking, the waiters and musicians all left the table.
The banquet where they had originally invited each other suddenly became silent and depressing, and even the noise in the outer hall, which was a little far away, could be heard faintly, forming a very sharp contrast.
Jiangdong did not benefit from the troops sent to Jiangxia in late summer and early autumn.
Although Zhu Ran's tribe returned home after plundering nearly 10,000 barbarians and a large amount of food and supplies, they were later defeated by the Guanzhong reinforcements and lost a total of more than 3,000 troops, so they gave up their capital and profits.
Sun Quan and others stood side by side to defend Shiyang City in Jiangxia to fight for reinforcements. Seven to eight thousand soldiers were killed or injured in the battle. The war that lasted for several months consumed countless amounts of food, fodder and baggage. It even caused some low-level generals such as the captain to sigh faintly. Complaints about horse attrition.
Although it will not shake the morale of the military or cause resentment, it is enough to make those in charge of the country vigilant.
In any case, in Jiangdong, where the tribe is privately owned, the power of each household is roughly proportional to the troops under his command. Who would be indifferent to the loss of the tribe?
Wuchang, which is adjacent to the river, is humid and cold, but the charcoal fire in the inner hall is so hot that a lot of water vapor rises and curls up, covering everyone's face, making their expressions even darker and more difficult to understand.
Just as clear as what they think in their hearts.
Zhu Ran, the one on the left, looks calm, pouring and drinking.
When he was young, he studied with Sun Quan. Even if all the soldiers under his command were killed in battle, Sun Quan would collect all the soldiers and horses from all over the country to make up for him. Because he and Sun Quan were of the same mind as monarchs and ministers, sharing weal and woe, so they had no other ideas. His only thought was to rest in secret, waiting for other people's excuses to come out, and then he would refute them.
As the person with the highest military power in Huaisi today, Zhuge Jin has no worries about losing his troops.
The Jiangdong family is becoming more and more powerful, and Sun Quan will do his best to support him for the sake of the honor and safety of his descendants.
Pan Rui, who met unexpectedly, had a hint of emotion on his face.
He was the leader of the Jingzhou scholars in Sun Wu's regime. He had previously put down the rebellion of the barbarians in Wuling, but he had quite a number of troops under his command. According to Jiangdong's practice, after the war was put down, the general could select some prisoners from among them to form a military force. into its own sequence.
Therefore, he was thinking about whether to invite himself to join the war.
But he still had doubts in his heart. He invited himself to join the war. Will Sun Quan return some power to his colleagues in Jingzhou?
Because of many concerns such as avoiding nationality and self-respect for supporting soldiers, many real powers in Jingnan are now not in the hands of Jingzhou scholars. They all serve Sun Wu, but the treatment and voice of Jingzhou people are far worse than those of the four surnames in Wu County.
As for Lu Xun and Quan Cong, they were calm and composed.
But occasionally, a glimmer of light flashed without leaving any trace in their eyes, which revealed their anxiety.
When Sun Quan and Lu Xun were discussing together before, he made a vague promise: If Huaiyou can be captured, they will be divided among the major wealthy families in Wu!
This is why they work hard.
However, after just one war, the inconsistency of interests between the big and small families was once again exposed.
There are many private military groups, as powerful as the four surnames of Wu, so they don't care about the loss of these groups.
Because after the war is successful, the rewards they receive will be much higher than what they lose now.
But this is not the case for some middle-class families.
Although their family has a lot of livestock and subordinates, the fields, manors and sea salt fields in various places occupy a lot of labor, and the number of private soldiers that can be used for conquests is limited.
There are no more than three or four thousand people, and even just over a thousand people.
If the loss reaches 30% to 40%, it will be a violation of the family's heritage, and they will definitely not allow such a thing to happen.
After all, if the current benefits cannot be maintained, why should we expect the benefits promised in vain?
It’s just a castle in the air!
Furthermore, the wealthy families from all over Jiangdong are accustomed to joining forces with each other.
One family is determined to quit and wants to preserve its strength, and others will follow suit, and may even secretly join forces with one another to refute and continue fighting!
Don't blame them for being short-sighted.
The fact that their family has the strength to judge rural music today is due to their "short-sighted" conservative thinking that has been accumulated over generations.
In this regard, Lu Xun, Quan Cong and others were helpless.
They wanted to take advantage of Sun Quan's promise to expand their family's power, but they didn't want to force other small aristocratic families to join forces, lest they join forces to boycott them, and then annihilate themselves from their hometown.
Sun Quan, who was sitting in the middle, had just held a banquet for the ministers and wore the emperor's crown, so his expression was covered, making it difficult for people to see clearly what his expression was.
However, based on past balancing techniques, he is fully aware of the current situation.
After all, he has ruled Jiangdong for more than thirty years. Is An Neng unaware of the concerns and desires of his officials?
In other words, he has long since given up hope that his subordinates will work together and fight to the death for the Sun family's foundation regardless of their clan and their own honor and disgrace.
There was dead silence for a while.
Sun Quan, who had been slightly lowering his head and stroking his beard, glanced at the fat mutton on the table that was cooked white and had long since gone cold, and he felt a sense of boredom in his heart for no reason.
I don’t know if it’s because I feel disgusted by the difficulty in eating cold meat, or because I feel cold and desolate.
Or maybe both.
"Yesterday, the governor of Danyang, Zhuge Yuanxun, came with a message."
With awareness, he spoke first, trying hard to make his voice passionate, "The above table claims that he has caused nearly 100,000 mountainous barbarians to come out of the deep valleys and mountains, and now they have all been included in the household registration! According to each household, one is born.
If Ding is a soldier, we can get an army of 40,000! Yuan Xun asked himself to command 10,000, and the rest will be dispatched by the court. I have approved it. Since the war here is urgent, I wrote a letter asking the prince to send people to protect him along the way."
At this point, he paused briefly, turned his gaze to Zhuge Jin, and his smile became very sincere and kind.
"Tzuyu had some words of admonishment to me before, saying that Yuan Xunnan was the only one who could help the mountains and cross the country. Now that things have come to pass, it was a mistake! In my opinion, it is indeed a blessing for our family that Ziyu has a son like this! He is also the son of our country of Wu.
Yukiya!"
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Jin quickly bowed and thanked him and said a few words of humility.
And everyone at the banquet smiled and agreed.
Such as Sun Quan's original decision to let Zhuge Ke appease Shanyue against all opinions, such as raising a lamp and congratulating Zhuge Jin on his descendants for having extraordinary talents.
Suddenly, the banquet was filled with laughter and laughter, which even overshadowed the noise of a group of vulgar warriors in the outer hall.
Because they all vaguely guessed how Sun Quan would distribute the 30,000 new Shanyue soldiers next.
It is nothing more than claiming that "those Shanyue new soldiers are not strong enough to fight, and they plan to be incorporated into the generals who have lost their private soldiers, in order to coerce the old soldiers into fighting", which is a disguised form of compensation for the losses of each clan's soldiers.
, so that they can continue to attack Jingxiang without any worries!
When it comes to conquering Hefei, conquering Shouchun, and occupying all areas south of the Huai River, who is more eager than Sun Quan?
The name of Jiangdong Foundation belongs to the Sun family!
as expected.
When he was young, Sun Quan announced his arrangements for the new soldiers of Shanyue.
Not only did the banquet once again allow people to drink and drink together happily, but it also allowed everyone to express their opinions on the plans and preparations for next year's war.
Compared with the comfort of others, only Zhuge Jin was a little worried.
Now Zhuge Ke's success in pacifying Shan Yue not only made Sun Quan very happy, but also solved the urgent need of Jiangdong's important ministers. It can be said that his future official career will be smooth.
But a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise?
In Jiangdong, standing out is not necessarily a good thing.
Especially the Zhuge family belongs to the Huaisi scholar faction.
However, he soon had no time to worry.
The collective efforts that lasted for a while made Sun Quan feel that in the previous war, the Han Dynasty promised to respond, but it was too perfunctory to send only one school of soldiers and horses to Xunkou, the eastern three counties to garrison the siege. Wu's attack on Wei was also perfunctory.
How could An Neng be so perfunctory while allowing the big man to cultivate his health and rest in peace?
Therefore, he planned to send envoys to make a plan so that the big man could do his best when he went to war next time.
If not, just lower the price of the war horse!
He also asked Zhuge Jin to protest to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang in the form of a private letter home.
However, his efforts were in vain.
Nowadays, in the land of Hexi of the Han Dynasty, the war has continued!
