Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3277 Old Injuries

‘Can’t take it down! ’

‘No more! No more! ’

‘Retreat, retreat…’

Various shouts of frustration rang out in all directions.

The chaotic Jiangdong Army retreated like the receding tide.

These Jiangdong Army soldiers were obviously not elite soldiers, but some old and weak soldiers. They looked numerous, but in fact their combat effectiveness was not very good. They could not even conquer the fortress in Jingzhou. They rushed forward and ignored everything when they retreated. Even though the leaders shouted at the top of their lungs to stabilize their positions and even chopped down several people, they still could not stand firm and were driven by the crowd. In the end, they could only retreat with them.

The weapons were also very poor. Some people simply held a wooden stick and a dung fork, more like the Yellow Turban bandits of the past.

But these people were the Jiangdong Army!

In the entire Han Dynasty, only Fei Qian took the route of elite soldiers.

Then Cao Cao learned half of it.

Most of Cao Cao's Central Commander and Guard were elites, or at least they were close to being elites.

In the Jiangdong Army, it was half and half.

Only the generals' troops and private soldiers could be called elites, while most of the others were ordinary soldiers, and there were many vassal troops, who were only given a flag, a few swords and guns, and a few pieces of armor, and were considered part of the Jiangdong Army.

Jiangling City was broken, but Nanjun was not the only Jiangling City.

There were still many forts around, especially the forts of the Kuai family. This kind of fort can still be seen in some areas in later generations, such as areas with more bandits and mountain bandits, where many modern earthen forts are preserved.

Although this kind of earth-stone structure fort is not as deep as the ditch of Jiangling City, it seems to be more defensive than Jiangling City. On the stone wall of the fort, there were densely packed people, all of whom were of the same clan, so there would be no complaints or shirking about who did more and who did less. Just now, these miscellaneous Jiangdong troops tried to attack the fort, and the guards on the fort resisted in unison, knocking down seven or eight crude wooden ladders and killing many Jiangdong miscellaneous troops.

In the trenches below the fort, many miscellaneous soldiers who were still alive were still screaming, groaning, and squirming.

And whether it was the people inside or outside the fort, they didn't seem to treat these people as human beings.

On the hillside far away from the fort, Zhou Tai looked at everything in front of him expressionlessly.

Without Zhu Zhi's support, Zhou Tai couldn't withstand Xu Huang's attack and could only retreat from the front line.

So in the Jiangdong army, the boss didn't laugh at the second one, everyone was a defeated general, and there was nothing to say, and they immediately tacitly started the production and self-rescue work.

Jiangling City was occupied by Zhu Zhi and his troops. Zhou Tai wanted to get some benefits, of course, he couldn't compete with Zhu Zhi, and he didn't have the qualifications to compete with Zhu Zhi, so he naturally set his sights on these surrounding rural forts.

If you pry open a turtle shell, there will be at least two taels of meat, right?

These miscellaneous Jiangdong soldiers are actually ordinary people captured by Zhou Tai from the surrounding areas. Just like the Yellow Turban bandits who held people hostage, the Jiangdong army is also familiar with this.

People can do anything to survive.

Young and strong, old and young, women and children.

Even if there are dead people in front of them, these people will stuff food into their mouths without changing their expressions for a bite of food.

Zhou Tai held these people hostage to attack the fort as bait or as a pretext, just a bite of food. If they take it down, there will be food, and if they don't, everyone will starve to death. Anyway, the people used to attack the fort are these hostages and miscellaneous soldiers. Even if many people die, Zhou Tai will not frown.

The owner of the fort did not plead for mercy, and also tried to use a small amount of money and food to let Zhou Tai leave, but how could it be possible?

At this moment, even after repelling several attacks by the miscellaneous Jiangdong Army, there are still many people surrounding the fortress. Zhou Tai and his troops are still in the distance, and there is no hope for the fortress.

Even the fortress owner couldn't help shouting on the stone wall, "Why? ! Why do you want to attack us? ! We haven't done anything to harm the heavens and the earth! ! "

The fortress owner screamed there, and his voice was full of despair.

As for Zhou Tai and others in the distance, they were not excited at the moment, and even felt a little desperate like the fortress owner. It's just that Zhou Tai can transfer the despair to others, while the fortress owner has nowhere to transfer it.

Jiangdong was defeated!

Even if Zhou Tai conquered the fortress, it couldn't change the fact that Jiangdong was defeated.

Even a Sichuan army couldn't be defeated, which completely shattered Jiangdong's dream of dominating the world.

So Zhou Tai quickly followed Zhu Zhi's footsteps and began to plan his own interests.

Trying every possible way to get benefits, if it doesn't work externally, then you can only do it internally.

When a company cannot get benefits from the outside, the next step is often to reduce staff and increase efficiency. When companies start to strictly check attendance and deduct money and fine employees at every turn, they often use this method to get benefits from employees and squeeze out the employees' belly, and on the other hand, they try to use this method to force employees to voluntarily resign.

Zhu Zhi said that even small merits like Zongzei are now plastering on his own face, which shows how difficult it is to achieve some results now!

As an employee of Jiangdong Sun Company, it is somewhat difficult to change jobs now, so what they can do now is to take advantage of their own benefits crazily when the company cannot increase external benefits, because they all know that Jiangdong has actually There is no tomorrow.

Those standing around Zhou Tai were the troops and private soldiers who had followed Zhou Tai all the way.

"General, these useless goods are really bad!" Niang Xipi! Even such a small Wubao could not be captured after three or four attacks! ” One of the tribe members muttered dissatisfiedly.

Zhou Tai obviously didn't put his mind on Wubao.

For him, it would be great to be able to capture Wubao, but what is more important is how he can maintain his current status!

Zhou Tai was not from a good background. Although his surname was Zhou, he had no relationship with Zhou Yu.

Maybe they were one family eight hundred years ago, but now...

Zhou Yu is the noble son, and Zhou Tai is the pirate king... ahem, the little pirate boss.

Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were both thieves and bandits.

"General..." Seeing that Zhou Tai was not in a good mood, Bu Qu couldn't help but lower his voice, "What should we do next?" 』

Zhou Tai looked around and found that his Bu Qu's face was also full of worry, so he whispered: "Do you think that Jiang Xiaowei and Lu Shenjun are now in Yidao, can they stop Sichuan and Shu?" How long will the army last? 』

Zhou Taibu thought for a while, "Won't Governor Zhu send troops to reinforce?" 』

"snort. Zhou Tai pouted, "Did Governor Zhu send reinforcements when we were resisting the Sichuan and Shu forces?" 』

Now within Jiangdong Army, everyone only thinks about themselves. Cooperation, tacit understanding, team spirit, and corporate culture are just words of reference.

Sign language singing and dancing are performed every day, and a knife is stabbed in the back every day.

"Lu Shenjun... Huh, those guys didn't want to fight this war originally..." Zhou Tai said in a low voice, "It's fine now, just as they wanted!" What we need to consider now is how to protect ourselves from being impeached by the lord... ahem, well, from being impeached by those Jiangdong noble families..."

"ah? Lord, he..." Bu Qu subconsciously wanted to speak out, but shut his mouth under Zhou Tai's warning eyes.

Zhou Tai sighed, "Jiangdong... He is no longer the Jiangdong he used to be..."

Ms. Sun is no longer the Ms. Sun that she was back then.

Heroism will eventually be exhausted.

Zhou Tai was silent for a moment, then loudly ordered: "Send the order and let these damn cowards attack Wubao day and night!" Tell them that if they can't capture Wubao in this wilderness, they will just wait to starve to death! Open the Wubao and you can still have a good time! If you want to survive, you have to fight on your own! 』

Zhou Taibu responded and dispersed, loudly encouraging the morale of these motley crews. He kicked and fought among the crowd, and even killed a few who refused to move, urging the chaotic motley crew to form a team again and head towards Wubao.

Although Zhou Tai also understands that the character of this Jiangdong person is that he is the strongest in fighting in a nest, but he is just a general who has just crawled out of the mud, so what qualifications do he have to reverse everything in Jiangdong?

In this current situation, it is impossible to say that only Zhou Yu and Zhou Gongjin can turn things around and save Jiang Qing!

Zhou Tai did not expect that besides Gan Ning, there was also Xu Huang who was so good in the Sichuan-Shu Army. Coupled with the sharp weapons of the Sichuan-Shu Army, those...

Zhou Tai couldn't help but touch the wounds on his body.

He couldn't remember how many times he had been injured. It seemed that new injuries always appeared before the old ones healed.

I remember someone asked him if there were so many injuries on his body, didn’t it hurt?

Zhou Tai remembered that he just laughed at that time, and then said that for the sake of his master's great cause, it didn't matter if he was injured more, which attracted a burst of admiration...

In fact, how could it not hurt if you are so stupid? !

But what can Zhou Tai do?

Although his surname is Zhou, he can only rely on himself.

"Xie Niang!" I can't defeat Wubao today, so I'll kill him every ten times! ” Zhou Tai suddenly pulled out his sword and waved it in the air, “A bunch of trash! The trash deserves to die! Go to hell! 』

Zhou Tai spat, his face looking ferocious.

If you can't defeat the hussars, is it possible that you can't defeat a country fort?

As the saying goes, the thief never escapes...

Well, cough cough, as the saying goes, military affairs are important weapons of the country and should not be started lightly.

Now that Jiangdong has made such a trip, of course there is no reason to go back empty-handed!

Even if it's a mosquito's legs or a fly's belly, some oil and water must be chopped off. Otherwise, how can he support his own tribe and recruit more private soldiers? Aren't the injuries he suffered just in vain? !

…

…

Koto.

Wujun.

Sun Quan's hands were shaking and his heart was bleeding.

Stacked on the desk are battle reports sent from the front line.

The top one was sent by Zhu Zhi.

After receiving the battle report, Sun Quan had been in this room for a long time.

There was silence around the room, and none of the servants dared to come forward.

The last unlucky guy who accidentally made some noise was already executed as a spy spying on secrets.

Sun Quan gritted his teeth and picked up the top battle report again.

『…Before, the rebels fled eastward along the Yangtze River from Sichuan. Jiang and Lu were ordered to block the Yi Road and prevent the rebels from coming east. According to the report of Lu, the rebels were rampant and the river was not favorable. If there was no reinforcement, there would be danger of losing again. So the civilians of Nanjun were sent to make up for the shortage and provide rescue. The army’s rations were insufficient, and I begged the lord to allocate food and grass to support Nanjun and resist the rebels. 』

『We also went to suppress the rebels in Nanjun and won many battles. There were many clan rebels in Nanjun. Liu Jingsheng did not pacify them before, so they occupied the countryside. They colluded with Cao’s army. Therefore, I ordered Zhou, the general of the front army, to lead the soldiers to suppress them. They directly attacked the rebels’ nest and killed hundreds of rebels. The rebels retreated to the fort, and Zhou led them to advance and killed more than ten leaders of the fort and more than three hundred rebels. At present, there are clan rebels attacking the Nanjun camp. I immediately divided the troops to meet them. We killed hundreds of rebels. The remaining bandits are running around...'

'...'

Sun Quan's face became more and more purple as he watched.

Great!

It's really great!

The disadvantages of advancing into Sichuan and Shu were lightly mentioned, but the killing in Jiangling was described so vividly. It's as if Jiangdong's original plan was not to advance into Sichuan and Shu, but to attack Jiangling!

Killing hundreds of bandits is also worth reporting as a victory!

However, the failure in the battle with the Sichuan and Shu army was attributed to "no reinforcements to fill quickly" and "insufficient rations for the army"!

What's the key?

The key is that this thing can be placed on Sun Quan's desk openly!

It's like making a ball of shit that doesn't know whether it tastes like chocolate or a ball of chocolate that tastes like shit, and placing it in front of Sun Quan, and asking Sun Quan to accept it happily and enjoy it happily!

Can you not be so shameless!

Sun Quan had to hold the desk tightly to control himself from overturning the desk!

The momentum is so great. The Jiangdong Army that he had worked so hard to put together is now marching west for this? To wipe out those damn clan thieves? Then should he still express his joy for this and say that Governor Zhu did a good job? !

Damn it!

Damn it!

Although he also knows that the Jiangdong Army, which is said to have 300,000 soldiers, is a considerable real force after a 50% discount, a 50% discount, and a 15% discount!

But what did he get?

Moreover, in the later period, Sun Quan also found a way to replenish the "soldiers" to the front line three times again. Adding up all the various things, the total force is at least more than 100,000!

Even if the soldiers added in the later period are somewhat different from the first batch, those people are not completely useless!

Besides, even if they are useless, they still need swords, spears, armor, arrows, crossbows, warships, flags, clothing, food, grass and pickles, all of which are money!

What is the result?

The result is just this? !

Sun Quan was almost out of anger.

The Jiangdong area of ​​the Han Dynasty is not as good as Jizhou and Yuzhou. It is not easy to gather 100,000 soldiers.

Of course, Sun Quan is not ignorant of the military victory and defeat, but the problem is that this war is an important battle for Jiangdong to compete for the world. If it cannot conquer Sichuan and Shu, then Jiangdong can't even talk about the world being divided into two. It can only be passively beaten until it perishes!

After two generations of expansion by the Sun family, the power of Jiangdong has gradually shown some decline. To the east is the sea, to the north is Lao Cao, and to the south is Nanyue. The only chance is to break through the west, connect Sichuan and Jiangdong into a line, and divide the world into two. In this way, Jiangdong will have more opportunities. Whether it is to digest the gentry within itself or to form an army to annex Nanyue, it will take considerable financial resources and time, and now...

If I had known earlier, I would have let Zhou Gongjin go...

Sun Quan was stunned when he thought of this.

He hurriedly picked up the battle report sent back by Zhu Zhi on the table and read it carefully again.

'Hundreds of casualties...'

'More than a thousand casualties...'

'Hmm...'

Sun Quan calculated and then pondered.

He was too angry before, so he ignored some details.

Now that he calculated, it seems that they were only defeated, and the casualties were not many!

In this way...

Sun Quan pondered again.

If the situation is very dangerous, then Sun Quan will let Zhou Yu lead the troops without hesitation to save the crisis, but what if the situation is not as bad as imagined?

What kind of person is Sun Quan?

Many people in later generations despise Sun Quan, but in fact, Sun Quan in history, even if he does not mention military affairs, he is still a first-class level in politics and diplomacy.

Sun Quan not only relies on and trusts Zhou Yu, but also has a little fear, and Zhou Yu seems to feel Sun Quan's fear. This fear is also increasing with the increase of Sun Quan's age, and then dissipates with the death of Zhou Yu.

Sun Quan still remembers that when Sun Ce died, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao pushed him to the throne of the Lord of Jiangdong, but Zhou Yu came with soldiers at that time!

Zhou Yu was born in a noble family. His great-grandfather Zhou Jing and his uncle Zhou Zhong had served as the Taiwei of the Eastern Han Dynasty. His father Zhou Yi had also served as the magistrate of Luoyang. Therefore, Zhou Yu's family was completely an official family and very powerful. Zhou Yu, who grew up in such an environment, was not only tall and handsome, but also quite talented.

It can be said that Zhou Yu really fits the image of "wearing a feather fan and a scarf, talking and laughing, masts and oars are destroyed in the ashes", but Sun Quan is not...

Although Sun Quan's appearance in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is quite inhuman, in fact, Sun Quan's appearance can only be regarded as an ordinary person, with a broad face and a wide mouth. If he really stands next to Zhou Yu, Sun Quan can't raise his head.

And the most important point is that Sun Quan still thinks of it sometimes in nightmares at night...

That year, "Ce died, Quan took charge of the affairs. Yu led the troops to the funeral, so he stayed in Wu, and let the Central Guard and the Chief Clerk Zhang Zhao take charge of all matters together"!

Zhou Yu once explained that he brought the soldiers to be prepared for an emergency, but Sun Quan also felt a thorn in his heart!

You know, if Zhou Yu's thoughts were wrong at that time...

And Sun Quan felt that Zhou Yu had no suspicion of "leading troops to fight for power" at that time?

Zhou Yu was not a member of the Sun family. Even if he had a good relationship with Sun Ce, he was still an outsider. As an outsider, what does it mean to lead troops into Wu? This is just like Dong Zhuo leading troops into Luoyang back then!

Sun Ce had just died, and Zhou Yu led his troops to the funeral, saying that he was here to mourn, but what if he wasn't?

Who can guarantee that Zhou Yu didn't have other thoughts at the time?

Sun Quan couldn't be sure.

He didn't dare to be sure.

It's better to keep this matter to yourself, just like an old injury, which may not be a big deal on weekdays, but once it is triggered by something, the old injury that was originally rotting in your stomach gradually ferments and smells.