The changes in the situation in the north have not yet spread to the south, and Zhu Wen's death is strictly kept secret, and even Liang Guo does not know much about it, and Yang Wu has not received any news at all.

After withdrawing his troops from Xiangzhou, Yang Wu did not return to Jinling directly, but temporarily stopped in Jiangling City, because Zhang Ge, the envoy sent by Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, arrived.

Zhang Gene is the elder brother of Li Yan, the original Jianghuai propaganda envoy, and the son of Zhang Jun, the former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty; After Zhang Jun was killed by Zhu Wen, he fled to Shuzhong, and now he is reused by Wang Jian, and the official worships the prime minister.

The purpose of Zhang Ge's envoy this time was very simple, that is, to negotiate peace with Wu on behalf of Wang Jian.

The outcome of the Battle of Jiangling had already made Wang Jian realize that he could not prevent the rise of Wu, let alone rely on the power of Shu alone to recapture Jiangling.

Under such circumstances, it was undoubtedly unwise to continue to be an enemy of Wu, so Wang Jian decided to temporarily suspend the war with Wu and focus on defense instead.

After listening to Zhang Ge's intentions, Yang Wu did not directly agree, and at the same time did not refuse on the spot, but sent him down, and summoned the generals to come to discuss the matter.

In the Jingnan Jiedu Embassy's Mansion, the hall that Gao Jichang used for deliberations has now become a temporary venue after a slight transformation.

Except for Chai Zayong, who stayed in Xiangzhou, and Wang Maozhang, who was seriously injured, the other generals were basically all there.

After briefly introducing the situation to the generals, Yang Wu asked: "Generals, this is the situation, do you think that Lone wants to make peace with the king, and please express your opinions!" ”

"Great King, Shu and my Wu have always been at peace, but that Wang Jian sent troops to Jiangling for no reason to make it difficult for our army, and now after the defeat of the army, he sent people to sue for peace. How can there be such a good thing in the world? Therefore, the general thinks that he cannot agree to peace! It was Lu Shizhou who first stood up to oppose it.

Yang Wu nodded and looked at the other generals noncommittally.

From the bottom of his heart, Yang Wu actually intended to accept the proposal for peace.

After all, it is impossible to destroy Shu now.

Before Wang Jian died, the strength of Shu was enough to rank among the top in the world, and even Yan and Qi were inferior, that is, the three great powers of Jin, Wu and Liang could overwhelm them.

But if you want to destroy Shu, even if Wu does its best, I am afraid that it may not be possible.

Don't look at the history of the Later Tang Dynasty to destroy the former Shu war, it seems that it was easy to succeed, but that was because Wang Yan, the former lord of Shu and the queen, was too incompetent and made a mess of the entire Shu Kingdom; In addition, those founding veterans of Shu either died of old age or were killed, and the rest were either retired at home, or they were not of the same mind as Wang Yan.

In this case, coupled with the proper command of Guo Chongtao, the leading general of the Later Tang Dynasty, this was an easy victory.

If at this time, when Wang Jian is still alive, it will be a hundred times more difficult to destroy the Shu Kingdom?

If you enter Shuzhong from the west of Xiazhou, there are lofty mountains and mountains all the way, and the terrain is dangerous everywhere, and the Shu army only needs to hold the main road with a small number of elite soldiers, which is enough to prevent the Wu army from entering Shu.

Even if the Wu army can take Shu Kingdom, it will be greatly damaged, which is obviously more than worth the loss.

On the other hand, if you wait for Wang Jian's death, let Wang Yan toss for a few years, and wait until Shu is tossed and greatly injured, and then send troops to attack Shu.

Yang Wu's abacus played very well, but the generals didn't see it that way.

In addition to Lü Shizhou, generals such as Zhu Qianyou and Qin Pei also advocated not negotiating peace with Shu; They felt that the new defeat of the Shu army must be panicked inside, and the Wu State should take this opportunity to crusade against the Shu State in order to avenge the Shu army's rescue of Jiangling.

Seeing that all the generals were opposed to the peace, Yang Wu looked at Zhu Jin and Guo Chongtao again, wondering what their opinions were.

Zhu Jin was thinking in his heart.

"Looking at the look of the king, it seems that he is inclined to negotiate peace with the Shu Kingdom?"

He pondered for a while before he spoke: "My lord, now I see that except for one Lingnan in the south, the rest of the region has been unified. After eliminating Liu Yan, whether it is time to recuperate and wait for the time of the Northern Expedition to come, or whether it is time to take advantage of the confrontation between Jin and Liang to eliminate Shu is the crux of the problem. ”

"If the king plans to recuperate and wait directly for the time of the Northern Expedition, then negotiate peace with Shu; Otherwise, don't negotiate peace! ”

Yang Wu's face suddenly turned happy when he heard this, and then asked: "Then the general thinks that Gu should recuperate and wait for the opportunity, or should he destroy the Shu Kingdom first?" ”

Zhu Jin said with a smile: "King, in fact, there is an answer to this question, Shu has the danger of mountains and rivers, and there are many generals, and Wang Jian is not easy to mess with, so the last general thinks that it is not the time to destroy Shu for the time being, you might as well wait for a few years, and wait for Wang Jian to die before making plans!" ”

Yang Wu smiled and nodded, although he didn't agree directly, his meaning was obvious.

After hearing this, the generals also thought about it, and the voices opposing the peace were not as strong as before.

Indeed, Wang Jian is a few years older than Zhu Wen, and even Zhu Wen is now seriously ill and dying, how long can Wang Jian live?

Once Wang Jian died, although the generals did not know that Wang Yan in history would make the former Shu so smoky, they could be sure that the strength of Shu would decline much more than in Wang Jian's era.

What's more, although it is difficult for the Wu army to attack Shu, it is also difficult for Shu to attack Jingxiang, and it is even more difficult to pose any major threat to Wu.

In this case, it is better for Wu to wait for the time of the Northern Expedition to come, and at the same time to wait for Wang Jian to die of illness.

When the Northern Expedition succeeded, the strength of Wu would inevitably rise; At that time, Wang Jian should have been dead for many years, and the strength of Shu will inevitably decline a lot, and it will be much easier to cut down Shu at that time.

In addition, there is another worry in Yang Wu's heart, that is, how to ensure that no other Meng Zhixiang appears.

In history, after the Later Tang Dynasty eliminated the former Shu, Guo Chongtao was killed immediately, and the Later Tang Dynasty appointed Meng Zhixiang as the new envoy of the Xichuan Festival.

However, Li Cunqiao of the Later Tang Dynasty died in civil strife soon after, and although the Later Tang Dynasty was once prosperous after the governance of Li Siyuan of Mingzong, Meng Zhixiang once again divided himself in Shu, thus establishing Later Shu.

If Wu eliminated Qianshu before the Northern Expedition, not to mention how to eliminate Qianshu and how much it would cost to eliminate Qianshu, that is, if Qianshu was eliminated, how should it ensure that there would be no new chaos in Shu?

If there are too many garrisons in Shuzhong, it will contain a large number of Wu troops, which is not conducive to the Northern Expedition; Second, so many Wu troops are stationed in Shu, if those leading generals have different intentions, relying on the high emperor of the sky, and once again pull up the banner of secession in Shu, who can subdue them at that time?

If there is too little garrison in Shu, the local forces in Shu may rise up in a crowd, and if there is a strong figure to lead, it is a copy of the Southern Tang Dynasty to eliminate Chu and Min in history: although the local regime was eliminated, it could not hold the local area, and was eventually driven out by the local forces.

Therefore, whether it is more garrison or less garrison, there is a greater risk.

The best way is to after the success of the Northern Expedition, when the general trend of Wu has been achieved, and there is a unified atmosphere of the world, if the army is sent to attack Shu again, the local forces will not dare to move easily, and the leading generals sent by Wu will not dare to have different intentions.

Otherwise, they will face the crushing of the absolute strength of the entire Wu State.

After sorting out these rules, Yang Wu naturally would not choose to cut down Shu now, and after annexing Lingnan, waiting for the opportunity to go north to the Central Plains is the best choice for Wu.

After Zhu Jin's words, the attitude of the generals has changed greatly, and they began to tend to negotiate peace with Shu.

However, at this time, Guo Chongtao stood up and said: "King, the minister thinks that he should not negotiate peace with Shu at this time!" ”

Yang Wu was stunned for a moment, and the generals also showed surprise on their faces.

"Does Guo Senjun think that Gu should destroy Shu before the Northern Expedition?" Yang Wu asked with some surprise.

Guo Chongtao said: "That's not the case, the minister's proposition is also to go on the Northern Expedition first, and then find an opportunity to attack Shu after the Northern Expedition is successful, and the minister has no opinion on this overall strategy." However, the minister thought that it was unnecessary to negotiate peace with Shu. ”

Yang Wu frowned and groaned, and only asked after a while: "Does Guo join the army mean that he wants to use the hands of Shu to train his troops?" ”

In addition to using the hands of the Shu army to achieve the purpose of actual combat training, and to prevent the Wu army from becoming corrupted because it had not been tested by war for a long time in the years when he was waiting for the opportunity of the Northern Expedition, he really couldn't think of any other reason not to negotiate peace with Shu.

Since he didn't plan to destroy Shu now, there was little point in some small fights; And if it is to prevent the Shu army from going east to Jingxiang, or to find a suitable forward base for the future invasion of Shu, with Xiazhou, these goals can basically be achieved.

In this case, the Wu army had no reason to continue fighting with the Shu army, unless it wanted to use the hands of the Shu army to train troops.

But if you want to train troops, you don't have to keep an eye on the Shu army, other forces can also use it for training.

Moreover, after several years of war, when the state of Wu was founded, the forbidden army once expanded vigorously, and the size of the forbidden army nearly doubled in a short period of time.

The result of such a large-scale expansion was naturally a decline in the combat power of the forbidden army and an overabundance of new recruits.

Therefore, in the following years, Yang Wu consciously sent all armies to the battlefield in batches to be tempered in actual combat.

After the test of war in the past few years, those newly recruited soldiers have basically gone to the battlefield and withstood the test of blood and fire; In addition, the cadets trained in the military academy have continuously entered the forbidden army, and the strength of the Wu army at the grassroots level has been guaranteed.

In this case, the need for actual combat training does not seem to be as great as before.

Yang Wu looked at Guo Chongtao with a puzzled face, and the generals also had questions on their faces.

Guo Chongtao said with a smile: "The king guessed it, and the minister admired it!" ”

"What exactly are you going to do, you might as well tell me in detail!" Yang Wu then asked.

Guo Chongtao's expression was solemn, and he asked solemnly: "Dare to ask the king, if you want to go north to the Central Plains, how many troops does the Wu army need?" ”