Chapter 345 The Army Gathers
Lu Ji is still young, and although Liu Feng himself is not old either, only one prodigy is needed. Everyone is a prodigy, so what value does a prodigy have?
So after Liu Feng praised Lu Ji, he asked him to continue studying at home.
On the other hand, Zhu Huan was recognized by Liu Feng. Like Lu Xun, he gave Zhu Huan the official position of captain and asked him to go south with the army with Lu Xun.
The vacancies in Lu Xun and Zhu Huan's troops were naturally selected from captured soldiers and young men and heroes from Wuxian County. The expenses were naturally paid by the Lu family and the Zhu family themselves, but part of the ordnance was allocated to them. Source Naturally, he was also under Xu Kun's command.
Zhang Yun was conquered by Liu Feng and appointed as Cao Cao in the residence of General Zhengnan.
Only Gu Yong was punished by Liu Fenghao, and even made the Gu family vomit a large amount of land.
At least one-third of these fields are prime paddy fields with extremely developed water conservancy projects and good terrain, so there is no need to worry about river flooding.
The Gu family handed over tens of thousands of acres of land in this wave, which was more than half of the family's ownership.
This is the result of the Lu family's uncle and nephew who have worked hard to help each other, which also makes Gu Yong a little depressed.
But in the end, Liu Feng did not ignore Gu Yong, otherwise the Gu family might not be depressed, but in danger.
Liu Feng finally appointed Gu Yong to join the army, and like Zhang Yun, he stayed in the general's mansion.
After dealing with the big names in Wuzhong, Liu Feng began to arrange for the army to go south to supplement the ministries with troops. After the ministries were fully staffed, Liu Feng left Xu Sheng to sit in Wuxian and supervise the ministries. A battalion of 2,000 men was sent out to escort the die-hard veterans of Xu Kun's unit to Liu Bei's office in the north of the Yangtze River.
The remaining non-die loyalists were classified as young and strong by Liu Feng, who could not only supplement frontline consumption, but also be used to transport supplies.
Immediately, under Liu Feng's arrangement, the main force of the Southern Conquest Army began to move southward, with Jia Kui as the vanguard. Liu Feng personally supervised the central army. Zhao Fan and Yu Zi were behind the troops. The army set off towards Qiantang. March to three cities.
Except for leaving Xu Sheng to guard Wu County, Liu Feng did not divide his troops to garrison Youquan and Wucheng.
Mainly for Liu Feng, Wucheng and Youquan are no longer important points.
Now Liu Feng has more than three logistics supply lines. Even if Youquan and Wucheng are lost, the logistics supply can still be kept flowing, not to mention that Wucheng's position cannot be threatened by Sun Ce at all.
Before setting off, Liu Feng had already written to Zhao Yun and Tai Shici, asking them to temporarily consolidate Yuhang and Qiantang and not to cross the Qiantang River easily.
On the surface, the situation between Liu and Sun seems to be almost a replica of that between Sun and Wang, but in fact, the situation between the two sides is completely opposite.
Sun Ce was in a hurry to cross the river at that time, and was tight on time and even under great pressure, but Liu Feng was at ease now. Not only was he not in a hurry, but he deliberately gave Sun Ce some time to harvest the powerful men in Kuaiji.
These powerful people in Kuaiji are not only wild in nature, but almost every family has a deep connection with Shanyue and Nanman. The two sides sometimes fight each other as enemies, and sometimes rob together as allies.
These powerful nobles are not completely useless. They are tough, dare to fight, and are good at fighting, but they are more harmful, especially the big wealthy families, who have a high reputation in Kuaiji, such as Zhou , Yu, He, Lin, Jiao and other families.
Liu Feng doesn't want to keep any of these families. Even though he admires Yu Fan and He Qi, he still hopes that Sun Ce can do a good job and help him clean up these problems.
Liu Feng has enough confidence in Sun Ce, because Sun Ce has become a puppet on strings without knowing it.
The shortage of food will force Sun Ce to do this.
After all, the income from robbing a Zhou family may be ten times or a hundred times that of those unknown little tycoons.
Now almost the entire Wu Commandery is in the hands of Liu Feng. As long as Liu Feng is willing, the southward army can move south at a speed of forty to fifty miles a day. Along the way, there are counties and villages in Wu Commandery that can provide supplies. .
But Liu Feng had plenty of time and still maintained his regular marching speed of thirty miles a day heading south.
It was already mid-February when we set off from Wuxian and arrived in Qiantang.
Zhao Yun personally led Tai Shi Ci, Zhou Yu and other generals out of the city for twenty miles to meet Liu Feng. Following Zhao Yun out of the city, there were two thousand elites and tens of thousands of people who greeted him, shouting for victory all the way.
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Time went back half a month ago. After Sun Ce recuperated his troops in Shanyin, he distributed soldiers from various places and mobilized Kuaiji resources to gather in Shanyin. Yin, Yuji County, Gaoqiantun and Guling line.
Subsequently, Sun Ce prepared to lead the last 30,000 troops westward to confront Liu Feng on the Qiantang River.
Before leaving, Sun Ce summoned his second brother Sun Quan at the Shanyin County Governor's Mansion.
In the original historical time and space, Sun Ce had already swept across the entire Jiangdong and occupied all Jiangdong counties except part of Yuzhang. His subordinate Zhu Zhi was appointed as the prefect of Wu County, and Sun Ce himself was appointed as the prefect of Kuaiji.
At this time, Sun Quan, as the eldest brother of Sun Ce, was naturally very proud and full of ambition.
Not only was he recommended as Xiaolian by Zhu Zhi, but he was also promoted as Maocai by Yan Xiang, the governor of Yangzhou. He was the most popular person in Jiangdong at that time. Later, he became the magistrate of Yangxian County, and Zhou Bin's family also This entered Sun Quan's sight.
But now Sun Quan is quite embarrassed. Although Sun Ce has won consecutive battles in Jiangdong, his territory has never been connected to a county, and he often cannot even occupy a single county.
Although now they have captured most of Kuaiji, Wu County has lost everything again.
"Zhongmou, I will leave Shanyin to you. The retreat of my Sun family is all on your shoulders."
Sun Ce must have ignored Kuaiji when he went west this time, so Shan Yin Yin must have a true person to take charge.
Undoubtedly, Sun Quan is the most suitable candidate.
Because he was worried that Sun Quan's ability might be insufficient, Sun Ce specially left his close confidant Lu Fan to lead 3,000 people to assist Sun Quan.
After listening to his brother's words, Sun Quan just nodded at this time.
Today's Sun Quan has not experienced the tempering of history. Whether it is courage or wisdom, he is much inferior to the same period in the original time and space.
But Sun Quan is Sun Quan after all, and his talent for strategizing is quite outstanding. He tentatively asked: "Brother, what do you want me to do?"
Lu Fan is one of the few people under Sun Ce at present. He was a man of both civil and military skills, and he also had friendship with Sun Quan.
In the past, when Sun Quan and other brothers were trapped in Xuzhou with their mother Wu Guotai, it was Lu Fan who took risks and made clever deeds to rescue them from Xuzhou.
For this reason, Sun Quan had a deep affection and gratitude for Lu Fan. This is probably another reason why Sun Ce kept Lu Fan on purpose.
After hearing Sun Quan's words, Sun Ce laughed, with a touch of appreciation in his smile. Sun Ce has four younger brothers. As the eldest son, Sun Ce is truly like a father to his younger brothers. Among the four brothers, Sun Lang is the youngest and a commoner. He has almost no sense of existence and can be ignored.
The third brother, Sun Yi, is very similar to Sun Ce, both in appearance and personality, and Sun Yi is only two years younger than Sun Quan.
These factors come together to create a rather weird piece of trivia.
That is, when Sun Ce died, there were far more important officials who supported Sun Yi than those who supported Sun Quan. It can even be said that except for Sun Ce, almost no one supported Sun Quan at that time.
Zhang Zhao was by Sun Ce's side at the time, but he was a supporter of Sun Yi. He directly passed over Sun Quan and said that Ce should serve Yan as a soldier.
Sun Yi is also known as Sun Yan, also known as Shubi.
It can be seen that Zhang Zhao spared no effort to support Sun Yi's succession.
Zhou Yu is away at this time. If Zhang Zhao is still qualified to recommend Sun Yi as his successor, Zhou Yu does not even have this qualification, and he does not have the ability.
It was not until Sun Ce died that Sun Quan took over. At this time, Zhou Yu returned to Wu County with three thousand elites, recognizing Sun Quan as his master and willing to serve him.
Therefore, there is only one reason why Sun Quan can take over, and that is Sun Ce.
Before Sun Ce died, he tried his best to let Sun Quan take over.
Not only that, he also forced Zhang Zhao, Lu Fan, Dong Xi and other close generals to be loyal to Sun Quan. This gave Sun Quan the first pot of gold and gave him a chance to be among the important generals in the future. The cost of jumping left and right.
I have to admit that Sun Ce's vision is indeed vicious. If Sun Yi is chosen to take over, I am afraid that the Sun family's rule in Jiangdong will not be able to support Cao Cao's move south.
At this moment, Sun Quan was keenly aware of Sun Ce's ulterior motives, which shows his power of strategy.
Sun Ce showed a pleased smile and replied: "Lü Fan's three thousand soldiers and horses, five hundred of them are loyal soldiers left behind by his father. The rest are also loyal elites I have selected over the years, and Lü Fan is in charge." , I can keep my mother and you safe."
"When I go west this time, I will definitely fight in the south. If God bless my family and help me defeat the enemy in one battle, I will be able to take advantage of the victory and recover Wu County. This will establish the foundation of my Sun family in Jiangdong."
When Sun Ce said this, his face showed excitement, and his eyes were filled with hope, which shows how much he longs for such a scene.
But then, after Sun Ce was silent for a moment, he continued: "But the military, the major event of the country, the place of life and death, the way of survival, is particularly unpredictable, even a wise man can't predict it."< br>
“Therefore, I also left Lin and Jiao Shui’s troops in Shanyin, and put Lu Fan in charge of them.”
At this point, Sun Ce glanced at Sun Quan with pity and said with a sincere tone: "If I win, there will be nothing to fear. But if I lose, I should protect my mother and sail away, but I can go south to join Jiaozhi." "
As soon as Sun Ce said this, Sun Quan suddenly realized that his brother had already left such a retreat for himself, his mother, his brothers and the Sun family.
But after Sun Quan pondered for a moment, he persuaded: "On the line of Guling, the boat masters are competing for supremacy. Since my brother has decided to fight in Qiantang, why stay in the forest and focus on Shanyin? If my brother is worried There are many ships in Kuaiji, so I can collect and build them myself."
Sun Quan's words are actually not a lie. Jiangdong's shipbuilding strength has always been second to none in the Han Dynasty. As long as there are enough staff, he can build them in half a month. With just a little effort, you can create a navy master.
Although ocean-going ships are more difficult and take longer to build, they are far different from the later industrial era where a ship took several years to build.
Sun Ce laughed. Sun Quan's persuasion was essentially to help him increase his chances of winning.
It’s just that Sun Quan didn’t know Sun Ce’s full plan. In this battle, Sun Ce had already concluded that he was no match for Liu Feng in a water battle.
In this case, it is better to leave the navy to your family and use it as a last resort.
“No, we shouldn’t need the navy in this battle.”
Sun Ce refused with a smile at first, and then added: “But second brother, you have a good idea, you can take advantage of this time. Build more new ships and recruit sailors.”
Although Sun Quan still didn't understand why Sun Ce said the navy was useless, he still respectfully accepted the order.
Three days later, Sun Ce officially sent out troops, with Han Dang as the vanguard and Cheng Pu as the deputy general. He sent more than 27,000 troops to the south bank of Qiantang.
Halfway through the journey, Sun Ce received news that Wu Jing was defeated by Taishi Ci and Zhou Yu in Jiangbei. Two of the three cities in Jiangbei had fallen, and only the city of Fuchun was still in Sun Xiu's hands.
Sun Ce immediately decided to send an order to Sun Xiu to withdraw his troops, leaving Fuchun County temporarily vacant.
Sun Ce once thought that Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, and Zhou Yu's troops would take advantage of the empty Guling defense line to cross the river. But soon he found that the other party actually stopped in Yuhang and Qiantang and began to rest and repair.
As a result, Sun Ce was immediately overjoyed and slowed down the pace of dispatching troops. In addition to the first batch of 18,000 troops from Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Song Qian, they stationed in the south of Qiantang and occupied Guling and Chadu Village. , After moving to Gaotun and Yuji County and other important places, Sun Ce himself still stayed in Shanyin.
At this time, Shanyin and even the entire Bei Kuaiji were plundered and squeezed by Sun Ce, and a large amount of money, food and materials were concentrated in Shanyin City.
Sun Ce took advantage of the window when the Conquest Army did not launch an attack, and desperately transferred these supplies to the front line.
Fortunately, the waterway from Shanyin can directly reach Guling City on the south bank of Qiantang. This is one of the advantages of Wang Lang's choice to block Sun Ce in Guling.
But after all, Sun Ce is the weak side, and the noble families in Jiangdong are powerful, and there are fewer and fewer people supporting the Sun family, which also means that the sources of intelligence he can obtain are pitiful.
Therefore, Sun Ce did not dare to delay for long, and finally arrived at the front line with the remaining troops six days later, facing Governor Zhao Yun's army across the river.
In the more than ten days since Liu Feng arrived at the front line, Sun Ce's troops behaved quite rationally. Except for the normal scouts who crossed the river to obtain intelligence, they made no other actions.
Sun Xiu's sudden withdrawal, and probably Liu Feng's subsequent order, prevented Taishi Ci from going south to attack Fuchun and still stationed in Yuhang.
It was not until Liu Feng was about to arrive at the front line that Taishi Ci entrusted Yu Hang to Xu Huang, and he himself took Xu Zhao and Gao Dai to Qiantang, and went out of the city to meet Liu Feng with Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu.
As a result, there are Zhao Yun (6,000 people), Jia Kui (6,000 people), Tai Shici (6,000 people), Zhou Yu (6,000 people), Xu Huang (4,000 people) in the north of Qiantang River ), Gao Shun (four thousand people), Fan Neng (four thousand people), Yu Mi (four thousand people), Zhao Fan (two thousand people), Yu Zi (two thousand people), Zhou Dao (one thousand people), Pan Zhang's other armored troops (2,000 people), Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Dong Xi, and Gan Ning (8,000 people in total), Sun's army surrendered more than 4,000 troops, and the Southern Army conquered a total of more than 59,000 people. At the same time, 20,000 civilians were recruited along the way to transport grain, grass and baggage by water and gathered in Qiantang, known as the 200,000-strong army.
(End of this chapter)