Chapter 1699: Going Out of Jingzhou to Join Wu and Reject Cao
Soon, Shuzhong also received the news. Liu Bei summoned a group of officials to inquire, and Shen Long was also among them. After seeing the marching route of Cao Pi's three-way army, he nodded secretly. Originally, Cao Zhen was going all the way to Jiangling. However, due to his own interference, Jingzhou is still in the hands of the Shu Han, so Cao Pi chose Jingling on the east side of Jingzhou, planning to take Jingling and then go down the Yangtze River to Jianye.
"Cao Pi's usurping the throne is unpopular, and Jiangdong Sun Quan refuses to accept my lord. The two are fighting, and we will just watch from the sidelines. It will not be too late to go out of Shu to reap the benefits of the fisherman when both losers!" Qiao Zhou said.
"Otherwise, Your Majesty has newly appointed Sun Quan as King of Wu. If Cao Pi is allowed to attack Sun Quan, His Majesty's prestige may be damaged." Xu Jing expressed a different opinion, "What's more, Cao Pi's attack is fierce. If Sun Quan is defeated by him, Shu China is also in danger."
"How can Cao Pi defeat Sun Quan?" Qiao Zhou retorted, "Soochow is united in one mind, and the Yangtze River is naturally dangerous. Cao Cao can't cross it, let alone Cao Pi?"
The two sides were arguing endlessly, and Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang for his opinion after comforting him, but Zhuge Liang looked at Shen Long, "I don't know if Zifeng has a high opinion?"
Shen Long stood up and said, "Soochow was defeated not long ago, and its momentum is declining, and the Jiangdong family has a lot of slander against Sun Quan's acceptance of the Wu king, so it is not easy for Sun Quan to win this battle!" After Lu Xun burned the battalion and defeated Liu Bei, the morale of Soochow was booming at that time, so defeating Cao Pi was no problem.
But now, Lu Meng lost his army in Jingzhou, Lu Xun has not yet established meritorious prestige, and Dongwu is in a period of weakness. If the Shu Han does not intervene, maybe Cao Pi can really win. Even if he can't win Jiangdong, Sun Quan will lose his army. This is obviously not good for Shu Han.
So Shen Long pointed to the map and said, "Cao Xiu and Cao Ren are approaching Jianye, but Jianye is the essence of Jiangdong, with a large army. Zhu Huan and Lu Fan are very courageous and good at using soldiers. Cao Xiu and Cao Ren want to take Ruxu , The entrance of the cave may not be easy; Cao Zhen pointed directly at Jingling, but it is the weakness of Soochow."
Jingling is Lu Xun's defense area. With Lu Xun's military talent, he is not afraid of Cao Zhen, but the Eastern Wu soldiers in this area were beaten by Shen Long before, and their morale is low. Take precautions against the Shu Han, so that Cao Zhen's hope of winning will be great.
After some analysis, Shen Long put forward his own suggestion, "Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to order General Guan to move his troops to Fancheng to block Cao Zhen for Sun Quan. This will not only relieve Sun Quan's danger, but also demonstrate His Majesty's majesty; it will also consume the strength of Cao's army. It will be of great benefit to the Northern Expedition in the future."
If the Shu Han made a northern expedition, they would have to send troops from Jingzhou and Qishan. The roads are far away and the transportation of food and grass is difficult, so it is better to lure Cao Pi's army to attack, so that Cao Pi's side will consume the food and grass soldiers; Jingzhou is not difficult to supply Fancheng with food and grass. Waterways are enough, but when Cao Zhen’s army attacked Fancheng, they needed to transport grain and grass from Nanyang. Although there were also waterways connected, the strength of Cao Wei’s water army was not good enough, so he only needed to send a team of sailors to travel on the river. Cao Zhen could only transport grain and grass by land. In this way, their consumption will inevitably increase greatly.
"Dan Caozhen has 50,000 to 60,000 troops. If General Guan goes north to Fancheng, Cao Pi will definitely increase his troops, but the more he comes, the better!" Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan lightly, obviously thinking of going with Shen Long, Cao Pi The more troops are added, the greater the pressure on the supply of food and grass, and the march of the army will also affect the food production in Nanyang. This move can indeed greatly consume Cao Wei's strength.
"Since that's the case, I don't want a quick victory in this battle, but I want Cao Zhen's army to stay under Fancheng for as long as possible, and the more soldiers and horses, the better!" Zhuge Liang stood up and said to Liu Bei, "Your Majesty, please send Zifeng to Fancheng to assist Guan General!" With Guan Yu's temperament, he is definitely not willing to hold on, if that is the case, someone must be able to persuade him.
Zhuge Liang thought about it again and again. I am afraid that only himself and Shen Long can do it in the Shu Han.
He was in charge of Shu Han's government affairs and couldn't leave easily, so he had to let Shen Long go; since he suggested this way, he definitely wanted to go.
"I don't know what Zifeng wants?" Liu Bei looked at Shen Long, and after seeing Shen Long's agreement, he immediately decreed that Shen Long was canonized as a general in the army, and he personally led the troops to Jingzhou to assist Guan Yu in resisting the attack of Cao Zhen's army; Send Jian Yong to Soochow to inform Sun Quan of the news, and tell him that since His Majesty canonized you as King of Wu, he will definitely not sit idly by. I will help you block the West Route Army, so you can concentrate on dealing with Cao Xiu first. , Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba!
"Your Majesty, please select young talents from Sichuan, and go to Fancheng with me to practice!" What a great opportunity to train soldiers, why don't you hurry up and take advantage of this opportunity to cultivate talents? Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Zhao Guang, Zhao Tong, etc. all brought their experiences with them, so as to avoid the shortage of talents in the Northern Expedition in the future, people like Liao Hua can be pioneers.
Liu Bei readily accepted Shen Long's suggestion and asked the ministers to recommend talents. Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Zhao Guang, Zhao Tong and others that Shen Long was talking about were all on the list. Ma Chao also wanted to go to the front to fight, but he really couldn't hold back his face He was under Guan Yu and Shen Long, so he recommended Ma Dai; Huang Zhong was more concerned, because his son Huang Xu died early, and he had no descendants.
Not just generals, Shen Long also brought Ma Di along with him. This talent is still there, but the lack of experience is a bit of a theory. After he goes to the battlefield to experience it for himself, he will probably not be able to do the things on the garrison mountain. Bar?
On the day the army set off, Liu Bei led his group of ministers to send Shen Long out of the city, holding his hand and repeatedly exhorting him; then the army went down the river, and amidst the cries of monkeys on both sides of the river, the warship had quietly passed tens of millions of people. Chongshan came to the territory of Jingzhou.
Hearing that Shen Long was coming, Guan Yu immediately ordered Guan Ping to meet him, and then Shen Long brought all the young generals into the city to meet Guan Yu. Guan Yu heard that he was going north to fight Cao Zhen, so he couldn't help stroking his beard and laughing. , but he was bored to death, and now when he heard that there was a battle to be fought, he immediately became excited, "Cao Zhen, it's not worth mentioning."
"Let's be quiet, general. This battle will indeed borrow the prestige of the general." If Guan Yu had stayed in Jingzhou, Cao Pi might not have sent a large number of reinforcements. It will hang over the hearts of Cao Wei's generals like a dark cloud, forcing them to pay attention.
Shen Long told Guan Yu the plan of this battle, "This battle must be defeated, it only consumes Cao Wei's strength, the general can sit in the city, and let's see the younger generation break the thieves!"