sovbooks Chapter 1401: Wu's Army Rises
Chapter 1401: Wu's Army Rises
Chapter 1401: Wu's Army Rises
In the first month of the tenth year of Yan Xi, Quan Cong, who had already been promoted to the Right Grand Marshal of the Wu State, was lying on the bed dying.
Princess Quan sat beside the couch, shedding tears silently.
All the sons and daughters of the Quan family stood by, looking sad and gloomy.
Quan Cong's eyes were half open and half closed, and his look seemed to contain both reluctance and indifference to the upcoming unknown.
Occasionally, those eyes would try to focus, as if looking for something, or hoping for a last look at the loved ones around them.
His lips were slightly cracked due to long-term dryness, and every difficult breath was accompanied by a subtle but audible gasp, like a candle swaying in the wind, which could go out at any time.
Seeing Quan Cong move, Princess Quan, who was closest to Quan Cong, quickly stopped crying and called out softly:
"Alang?"
Although Princess Quan was narrow-minded and cruel, after she became a widow and remarried Quan Cong, she actually became acquainted with Quan Cong in terms of temper.
Otherwise, she would not have given birth to two sons, Quan Yi and Quan Wu.
Not to mention that the couple fully supported Sun Ba and even went to great lengths to frame Crown Prince Sun He.
So on weekdays, the two of them can be considered loving. How can she not be sad when she sees her husband like this?
"Xi...Xijun," Quan Cong's cloudy eyes swept around and moved his lips.
Princess Quan leaned down and wanted to listen carefully, but she didn't hear Quan Cong make any sound for a long time.
She couldn't help but ask:
"Ah Lang, do you have anything to tell me?"
Quan Cong made two "ho" sounds in his throat.
Princess Quan finally came to her senses and turned around and ordered:
"You all get out."
Quan Cong's hand, which was held by Princess Quan, moved again, and Princess Quan understood:
"Da Lang, you stay."
So all of Quan Cong's sons, except the eldest son Quan Xu, withdrew.
There was deathly silence in the room.
After a while, Quan Cong seemed to have gathered his strength. He tried hard to open his eyes and called out again in a hoarse voice:
"My dear?"
Princess Quan quickly shook Quan Cong's hand and said:
"Ah Lang, I'm here."
"I'm afraid it won't work."
"Ah Lang, don't say that..."
Quan Cong wanted to shake his head, but found that even doing this action was extremely difficult. He couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Don't comfort me, I know my own body."
As he spoke, he looked at his eldest son Quan Xu behind Princess Quan, with a complicated look in his eyes.
There was another deathly silence.
Finally, Quan Cong asked in a low voice, but what he said was totally unexpected:
"How's the palace?"
Princess Quan then understood why Alang sent away all his sons except Quanxu at this time.
She glanced at Quanxu and said hesitantly:
"Your Majesty has recovered and even held a court meeting the day before yesterday..."
Of course, this is not what Quan Cong wants to hear.
He looked at Princess Quan steadily without saying anything.
Princess Quan had no choice but to continue speaking vaguely:
"Mrs. Pan has been increasingly favored by His Majesty recently. In the palace, His Majesty openly calls her his fairy companion, and everyone in the palace calls her the goddess."
"Cough cough cough..."
Quan Cong started coughing violently.
"Alang!"
Princess Quan quickly patted Quan Cong's back.
"It's okay." Quan Cong coughed a few times and recovered his breath. He seemed relieved, but also a little disappointed. "It seems that the prince is really going to lose power?"
Princess Quan remained silent.
"Fortunately... Unfortunately..."
Fortunately, the prince is finally going to be killed.
Otherwise, if the prince really ascends the throne in the future, the whole family will probably die.
"Ah Lang, King Lu... can't he take the throne?"
The couple had been plotting this for so long, so Princess Quan naturally understood what Quan Cong was regretting.
She still asked with some reluctance.
"No."
Quan Cong closed his eyes. Although his voice was weak, his tone was full of certainty.
As Sun Quan's most trusted son-in-law, he was also one of the most important supporting forces in this battle for the throne.
Quan Cong did not quite understand from the beginning why His Majesty condoned and even deliberately provoked the dispute between South and Lu.
But at the moment when General Lu Xun was forced to death, he had fully come to his senses.
In this dispute between South and Shandong, the Jiangdong children who originally had the most promising political prospects were either dismissed or exiled.
The death of the Grand General meant that the aristocratic families in Jiangdong, mainly the Four Families of Wu County, had once again been greatly weakened, and had even affected the balance of power in the imperial court of the Great Wu.
It can even be said that if the Prince of Lu is appointed as the Crown Prince, it means that Your Majesty will take a further step:
All the noble families in Jiangdong were wiped out.
This will only provoke fierce resistance from the Jiangdong aristocratic families.
Based in Jiangdong, he wanted to kill all the local aristocratic families in Jiangdong - King Huan had proved that this was an extremely stupid approach.
Your Majesty has spent so many years, but still has not been able to completely bridge the rift between the Sun family and the Jiangdong family.
If something like this happens again, even without external enemies, the Great Wu will fall apart.
Therefore, Your Majesty will never do this.
There is no way that Prince Lu can ascend to the throne, but this does not mean that Crown Prince Sun He can keep his position.
Same principle as above.
If Sun He really ascends the throne one day, he and the Jiangdong family behind him will only take revenge even more fiercely on those who support Prince Lu today.
If that time really comes, the Jiangdong aristocratic families will dominate and the emperor will gradually be held hostage. This will definitely not be a good thing for the Sun family.
Quan Cong didn't believe that His Majesty couldn't see this.
Therefore, combined with the information Princess Quan had gathered from the palace, Quan Cong had reason to believe that His Majesty would most likely choose a third prince.
This is a compromise solution that is acceptable to all forces in the Great Wu.
As for who it is...the answer is almost obvious.
The story of Madam Pan dreaming about the dragon head the night before she gave birth to the seventh prince had already spread widely in the court and the country. Wasn't it possible that someone was secretly spreading rumors to test the waters?
But it was impossible for Quan Cong to explain these words clearly to Princess Quan.
To spy on the emperor's mind is already a capital crime, not to mention spreading the knowledge after spying on him, or even spreading it to the emperor's daughter, is undoubtedly courting death.
Although Quan Cong knew that he would not live long, he did not want all the Quan family members to be buried with him.
Princess Quan naturally didn't know that Quan Cong was about to die, so she would think so much. She just reminded him:
"But Aji..."
Aji is Quanji, the second son of Quan Cong.
With Quan Cong's tacit consent, Quan Ji became attached to Sun Ba, the Prince of Lu, and could even be considered one of the Prince of Lu's most trusted guests.
If Prince Lu failed in his bid for the throne, one can imagine what would have happened to Quan Ji.
Quan Cong did not answer immediately, but turned his gaze to his eldest son Quan Xu:
"After I die, if Ah Ji's life is in danger, you can decide and choose one of the brothers' sons to be his successor, so that his family line will not be cut off."
The tone was calm, but when Quanxu heard it, his body trembled slightly:
"Here."
Then he asked with some concern:
"Sir, if my second brother is in trouble, I can still lend a hand. But what if this matter involves our Quan family? What should I do?"
In this battle between Nanlu and Lu, important officials and generals died, fell ill, were beaten, or exiled...
He had never seen such a big scene in his life.
When he thought about his own second brother who was trapped and beyond help, he was already terrified.
"No matter how serious the matter is, it will only be your second brother. As for the rest of us, His Majesty will not accuse us for no reason, considering my father's past contributions and your mother's."
His Majesty's most beloved wife is Madam Bu, even the current Madam Pan cannot compare to her.
The eldest princess looks very similar to Madam Bu, so she is the most favored by His Majesty among all the children.
After Madam Bu passed away, His Majesty gave the eldest princess the title of Princess Chang, which shows the status of the eldest princess in His Majesty's heart.
If it weren't for the support of the eldest princess, Quan Cong might not dare to get involved in the dispute between Nanlu - even if he did, he would never dare to get involved so deeply.
"After I die, you and your brothers must carefully serve your stepmother, visiting her every morning and evening, without any slacking."
Quanxu agreed immediately.
In the first month of the tenth year of Yan Xi in the Han Dynasty, Quan Cong, the right Grand Marshal of Wu, died of illness.
Lu Xun and Quan Cong were each the leading figures representing the two sides in the dispute between Southern and Lu. Their deaths also suggested that the dispute over the throne in Wu had finally cooled down.
In May, Bu Zhi, who had originally replaced Lu Xun to guard Xiangyang, was transferred back to Jianye from Xiangyang to serve as prime minister in September last year. He fell seriously ill and died shortly after Quan Cong.
Lu Xun, Quan Cong, Bu Zhi, together with Zhuge Jin who died of illness in Jingzhou a few years earlier, were all important ministers and generals of the Wu State, and also the backbone of the Wu army.
Now, watching them die one by one, Sun Quan, who had almost died from a serious illness, felt an increasingly sense of urgency.
He summoned his important officials to discuss:
"It has been more than 20 years since Wu and Han formed an alliance to fight against the bandits. During this period, Han first went out of Qishan to take Longyou Liangzhou, then went out of Hanzhong to take Guanzhong Bingzhou, and then crossed the Hangu Pass to take Luoyang and Henan. Now, they have led a large army to Hebei, intending to take over Youji."
"On the other hand, although our Great Wu has also sent out troops many times and our officers and soldiers have made many contributions, except for taking Xiangyang, we have not made any great achievements. Whenever I think about this, I feel deeply saddened."
Sun Quan said, with a look of pain on his face, "Especially the land south of Luoyang. Our Great Wu once had an agreement with the Han Kingdom. The land east of Hangu Pass was designated as the land of Great Wu. Therefore, it should belong to our Great Wu."
"But now the Han Kingdom has taken it first. Why? Are the soldiers of Western Shu strong, and the people of Jiangdong weak?"
"If that were true, how could our Wu be able to defeat Cao Cao's northern troops at Chibi and Liu Bei's western Shu troops at Yiling?"
Faced with Sun Quan's questioning, the ministers looked at each other in silence.
Some people even muttered in their hearts:
The Battle of Chibi was mainly commanded by General Zhou, while the Battle of Yiling was the work of the Grand General.
But where is the son of Grand Commander Zhou now?
Where is the great general now?
Now the only elite cavalry of the Great Wu, and its leading general (Zhu Ju) are still under house arrest!
The Jiangdong aristocratic families have many intermarriages and their relationships are extremely complicated. Sun Quan used the dispute between Nanlu and Lu to suppress the Jiangdong aristocratic families, which has made many people in the Jiangdong aristocratic families dissatisfied.
Especially the four surnames of Wu County, they prosper together and suffer together.
First, Zhang Wen was deposed, and then Lu Xun was forced to death. Most of the other important descendants were also exiled, which aroused the feeling of grief among the Jiangdong aristocratic families.
Alas, I thought that after pushing Sun to become emperor, everyone’s status in the underworld would also improve.
Who would have thought that after the King of Wu became the Emperor of Wu, everyone's life became even less hopeful than before.
Apart from anything else, the local people in Jingzhou, which also belonged to the Wu State, did not suffer any losses in this dispute between South and Lu.
On the contrary, because they were adjacent to the Han State, they were able to trade with the Han State and their lives became more and more comfortable. Who could they complain to?
What is worrying is not the scarcity but the inequality. In addition, he was filled with resentment, so it was natural that he could not help but mutter a few words when he heard Sun Quan's question.
Sun Quan saw that all the ministers bowed their heads and thought that they were all ashamed, so he continued:
"So this time the Han Kingdom is marching a large army into Hebei. I intend to lead the army north to attack Hefei and take over Shandong. What do you think?"
what?
Your Majesty, are you going to attack Hefei again?
This time, everyone couldn't bear it anymore and persuaded:
"Your Majesty has just recovered from his illness. It would be best if you rest and recuperate. Leading the army in person would be exhausting. If you are too exhausted, where would we, your officials, be?"
"Yes, yes. In recent years, our Great Wu has been engaged in many wars, and the people have long been impoverished. The former Han Dynasty lived in harmony with the people, which led to its prosperity. Your Majesty should also stop fighting, recuperate, and wait for the rebellion in Wei before leading the army north. This will achieve twice the result with half the effort."
……
When Sun Quan saw that his ministers did not support him, he immediately became furious:
"There is a saying among the people today that 'Sun Shiwan' ridiculed my repeated expeditions to Hefei and failed. As subjects, you did not think of redeeming your majesty, but instead advised me to stop fighting. Do you think I deserve this title?"
When all the ministers heard this, they all thought “We” in their hearts.
How come Your Majesty knows even this?
I don't know which of the Wei thieves had a son without an asshole, so he sent spies to spread rumors in Jianye:
Sun Quan repeatedly led 100,000 elite troops to attack Hefei, but he failed every time. It was really a bad plan. It would be better to change the name to "Shiwan" and call it "Sun Shiwan"...
Listen, Sun Shiwan!
The guy who could come up with this name is so vicious that it cannot be any more vicious!
If Your Majesty does not take Hefei during your lifetime, I am afraid that someone will mention this in the history books in the future, and by then even all the water in the river will not be enough to wash it away.
So let alone that His Majesty has recovered, even if he was lying on the sickbed, it is understandable that he would get up and pick up the knife when he heard this call.
Just thinking of the name Sun Shiwan, many people's mouths twitched, or maybe laughed...
Then I never dared to speak again.
Because to dissuade him further would be tantamount to persuading Your Majesty to nail himself to the pillar of shame in history.
Seeing that no one was trying to persuade him anymore, Sun Quan decided to make the decision.
The news that Wu's army was preparing to cross the river and march north quickly spread.
Wang Ling, who was originally stationed in Yangzhou, was transferred back to the court by Cao Shuang because he was highly valued by Cao Shuang and because Hebei was in emergency and Sima Zhao came to rescue.
The person who temporarily replaced him was Zhuge Dan, the governor of Yangzhou.
When Zhuge Dan received the news, he did not dare to delay and immediately sent a fast horse to Qiao County to deliver the letter, and then summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures.
Some people suggested sending more troops from Qing and Xu, while others suggested asking the court to send more soldiers.
Only Anfeng Governor Wang Ji overcame all opposition and persuaded Zhuge Dan:
"Sun Quan has been gathering a large force in Jianye for over a year, but has not made any move. Now he is suddenly launching an attack, which is not in accordance with the military strategy."
"I heard that there was fierce factional strife in the Wu government, and there was even a worry that the country would split. Quan summoned the troops to prevent the disaster. Even if this statement is not entirely true, it can be seen that Wu is in a state of internal instability."
"Moreover, Sun Quan went to Hefei in person, Lu Xun went to Jiangxia, and later Quan Cong went to Lujiang, but all returned without success. Now Lu Xun and others are dead, and Quan is old, with no virtuous successor at home and no strategist in the court."
"If Quan leaves on his own, he is afraid that internal conflicts will arise and the carbuncle will burst; if he sends generals, the old generals are gone and the new generals are not trustworthy. This is just to strengthen the party and protect himself."
"General Wang Ling has been stationed in Yangzhou for many years without incident. As soon as you took over, you only heard that the Wu army was about to arrive, but did not see the actual situation, so you started a war. This is obviously inferior to others."
"It would be better to order the troops along the river to investigate closely and take precautions, and then order the counties in Yangzhou to strengthen their defenses to prepare for the thieves. Hefei is a strong city, and as long as we are prepared, the thieves will not be able to break through it in a hurry."
"When the enemy troops arrive, it won't be too late for you to send troops to rescue them."
Zhuge Dan praised it as good.
Wang Ji, courtesy name Bo Yu, was from Qucheng, Donglai. He was orphaned at a young age and lived with his uncle Weng. Weng raised him very well, and Ji was also known for his filial piety and considerable talent.
At that time, Cao Shuang was monopolizing power and the morale of the Wei State was very bad. Wang Ji wrote "Shi Yao Lun" to satirize it, but Cao Shuang did not like it.
When Cao Shuang received Zhuge Dan's letter, he was shocked at first. Then, after reading Wang Ji's analysis of Sun Quan's advance, he said with some worry:
"Qiao County is not Xuchang, nor is it Luoyang. It is adjacent to Yangzhou. If Sun Quan really leads a large army here, what will happen?"
Ding Mi, the leader of the three dogs in Taichung, laughed and said:
"This is called God's help to the general. Why is the general worried?"
When Cao Shuang heard this, he was stunned:
"What do you think of Yan Jing?"
Ding Mi smiled:
"Isn't the general worried about sending troops to rescue Hebei? Once this news comes, won't the general's worries be solved?"
Sima Zhao knelt in front of the General's Mansion to plead his case, and finally forced Cao Shuang to agree to send troops to rescue Hebei.
However, at that time, the excuse was that it was difficult to send troops due to the severe winter and the war had not yet started, so Sima Zhao was asked to wait a little longer.
After the beginning of spring, they used the excuse that the snow had just melted, the roads were muddy, and that spring ploughing was the priority, so it was not appropriate to work the people, so they waited a little longer.
Now that summer has arrived, the military situation in Hebei has begun to become tense, and Cao Shuang naturally has no excuse to delay.
But he was unwilling to be led by Sima Yi. When he heard that Sima Yi had received help from 50,000 elite cavalry from outside the Great Wall, he was even more reluctant to send troops at this time.
Even if we send troops, it would be better to do it when Sima Yi is in danger.
But for a moment, he had no good solution.
When Cao Shuang heard what Ding Mi said, his fat face suddenly lit up with joy:
"I actually forgot about this!"