The pot that Zhu Ran broke through seemed to be Shibud's, but in fact, neither Zhang Xi nor Pang Tong had any intention of letting Shibud carry it.

This was caused by the misjudgment of the two of them together, and they directly misjudged Zhu Ran's breakthrough direction.

Whether it is Zhang Xi or Pang Tong, the two of them still have the consciousness of taking responsibility, so the two of them did not blame Shi Bao for anything, nor did they reduce the reward that should be given to the Wuxi barbarians because of this failure.

And as Zhu Ran broke through, Jiang Wei once asked for instructions on whether to pursue along the way. Even if Zhu Ran can lead his troops to Dongting Lake and retreat under the response of the naval army, as long as he chases fast enough, even if he can't keep Zhu Ran, it will not be a problem to leave some of the Eastern Wu soldiers.

But let's do it. Zhang Xi and Pang Tong discussed it a little and decided to let Zhu Ran go.

This decision is not considered from a military point of view, but from a political point of view.

If you really want to forcibly leave the last 20,000 soldiers of the Eastern Wu Army in Jingnan, I am afraid that Sun Quan's side will really not give up.

The navy army was defeated, the army was annihilated, Jingnan was lost, and Jiangxia lost most of it. In this case, whether Sun Quan is for the defense strategy of Eastern Wu or for the stability of his own throne, it is impossible for him to give up with the Han Dynasty, and he will inevitably carry out a general mobilization and fight with the Han in Jiangxia.

And at that point, the outcome is unpredictable.

In this battle of Jingnan, the Han was able to win, on the one hand, because the strategy formulated by Zhang Xi and Pang Tong completely calculated all of Zhu Ran's reactions, and Zhu Ran himself also made a very big mistake in the grand strategy of Jingnan's defense.

Zhu Ran concentrated too many troops on the frontal battlefield, and he didn't expect that Shi Bao's partial division would bypass the defense area of Lu Dai in Wuling County, start directly from Lingling County, and push all the way to the empty rear of the Eastern Wu Army, and finally capture Changsha and encircle Luo County.

On the other hand, it is also because at the beginning of the war, the Jiangling Navy and the Xiangyang Navy won both water battles and grasped the control of the Yangtze River basin in a short time.

In this regard, the biggest responsibility is really not to be borne by Zhu Ran, it is the result of that Zhuge Ke's blind waves.

The combination of these two factors led to the fact that the Eastern Wu army was a mess in the Battle of Jingnan, and the defeat was like a mountain.

But if it had been done again, the Han army would not have such good luck.

At least in terms of the navy, once the Eastern Wu increased its troops in Xiakou, with the combat effectiveness of the Xiangyang Navy and the Jiangling Navy Army, it may be difficult to continue to maintain control of the waters of the Yangtze River.

Without control of the waters of the Yangtze River, it would be difficult to say whether the victory or defeat would be if you fought against the Eastern Wu army in Jiangxia.

In terms of the navy, Dongwu must still have a certain advantage, and in terms of the army, although the Dongwu army is in a land war, they have a large number of troops, and it is not impossible to transfer troops from Jiangdong, Huainan and other places, and then transfer about 100,000 people, plus Jiangxia's original water and land coalition army, and can make up about 150,000 troops.

On Zhangxi's side, there are only the Han soldiers who have just experienced the Battle of Jingnan, and it is naturally impossible for the Wuxi barbarians to follow the Han to fight in Jiangxia, and in this Jingnan Campaign, the army casualties are also less than 20,000, even if you count the strength of the two partial divisions of Biqiujian and Wenqin, the combined army of the land and water alliance is less than 90,000.

This is only a factor in terms of troops, and the logistical pressure cannot be compared between the two sides.

If Sun Quan is really in a hurry, he can use the power of one country to provide logistics supplies to the Eastern Wu Army, and Zhang Xi's side is at most the power of one state. The logistical pressure is obviously greater on Zhang Xi's side.

Therefore, Zhang Xi discussed with Pang Tong, this time not only to let Zhu Ran go, but also to order Biqiu Jian and Wenqin, who were fighting in the north of Jiangxia, to withdraw their troops and withdraw to the territory of Jiangling County.

The purpose is to send a signal to Sun Quan: the goal of the Han is only Jingnan.

For Dongwu, Jingnan is related to the defense line in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which can not be lost, and Jiangxia, which is the Jiangdong barrier, must not be lost, so withdraw from Jiangxia to appease Sun Quan, and then send an envoy to reply to the peace request that Sun Quan asked Zhou Yin to convey before, and switch from military war to political bargaining, which is the best result that Zhang Xi can think of at present.

For this reason, Zhang Xi personally led 30,000 troops and horses to stay in Luo County, and sent Jiang Wei to lead the Southern Army of the Han Dynasty to garrison Liling County to prevent the Eastern Wu Army from invading Changsha from Yuzhang County, Shi Bao took 10,000 soldiers back to Wuling County, on the one hand, to place Wuxi barbarians, on the other hand, to garrison in Wuling County, Zhou Tai led 5,000 soldiers to the south as soon as possible, and collected Guiyang County.

The remaining 10,000 soldiers, led by Pang Tong, retreated to Wulin on the other side of the Yangtze River, followed by Wenqin, who had withdrawn from Jiangxia, and after the two joined forces, they held the Wulin Pass to prevent the counterattack of the Eastern Wu army in Jiangxia.

In terms of the navy, the Xiangyang Navy, under the command of Wen Ping, retreated to Hanjindu, avoiding the reinforcements of the Eastern Wu Army from the Yangtze River, while Yang Wei led the Jiangling Naval Army to march to Lukou, using the water village left by the Eastern Wu Naval Army, and deployed on the spot to block the Eastern Wu Naval Army from continuing to go against the water and defend the southern flank of Jingnan.

All in all, it is to put on a posture of withdrawing from Jiangxia and defending on the spot, waiting for the response of the Eastern Wu side.

And the Soochow side. Sun Quan was furious at the result of this battle of Jingnan in the palace.

There's no way, it's too miserable to lose, not to mention the loss of the entire four counties of Jingnan in the First World War, even Jiangxia, the barrier of Dongwu, has been lost almost half, can you not be angry.

This time, Sun Quan finally didn't care about his face, and directly sent an edict to Gu Yong, Buqi, and Zhang Zhao to enter the palace to discuss matters, and at the same time wrote to Lu Xun in Shouchun to ask Lu Xun's opinion on this battle.

In fact, the real intention was to ask Lu Xun if he let Lu Xun lead the troops, counterattack Shuhan, and recapture the four counties of Jingnan, whether he was sure enough.

But so be it. Not to mention Lu Xun, even Gu Yong, Bu Qi, and Zhang Zhao did not agree on whether to make a big counterattack on Jingnan.

Gu Yong is in favor of the counterattack, after all, this time the loss is indeed miserable, if he can't make an adequate response, it will not only make Shu underestimate Eastern Wu, but also make some restless forces within Eastern Wu have the mind of Qin and Duchu again.

Of course, this is the superficial reason, and the real reason lies in the fact that tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land in Changsha County, Lingling County, Guiyang County and other places have been transformed into fertile land, which are all made by Jiangdong families who have invested a lot of money and grain!!

That's enough to inherit the inheritance, so let Zhu Ran go away. Gu Yong did not impeach Zhu Ran at the first time, and he was already worried about the country.

In any case, the loss of these foundations, no matter which Jiangdong family, will have to hurt for a long time, how can you say that you will give up.

But Buqi was resolutely opposed to continuing to use troops against Shu Han.

In fact, strictly speaking, Buqi is not against the use of troops against Shu Han, but against the decisive battle with Shu Han under the current circumstances.

Zhu Ran had just experienced a big defeat and lost the entire Jingnan, and now the battle in the front-line army was not going well, morale was low, and he did not have the conditions for a counterattack.

The follow-up reinforcements can also be said to be hastily assembled, and it is okay to deal with temporary changes, but to fight a protracted war, Soochow did not make enough logistical preparations.

Moreover, if we want to counterattack Jingnan, not only will the troops from Jiangdong be transferred, but I am afraid that even the troops from Huainan will have to be transferred, which will inevitably lead to a shortage of troops in Huainan.

Although a covenant has been signed with Cao Wei, in these years, whether the covenant can be implemented depends on the discipline of both sides, can you guarantee that Cao Wei will abide by this covenant so disciplinedly and not attack Huainan? !

You must know that after Cao Wei experienced two battles of Heluo, it is also a time when he urgently needs to replenish blood, Huainan is empty, can Cao Wei really not be tempted? !

Last but not least. We fought to the death with the Shu thieves in Jingzhou, and mobilized the troops of Huainan and Jiangdong, even if we can recapture the four counties of Jingnan again, can we bear the price? !

Once the Shu Han side is defeated, it will lose half of Jingzhou, at least Eastern Wu does not have the strength to threaten Xiangyang and Nanyang in the north of Jingzhou.

But even if our Soochow wins, we will recapture Jingnan. If the troops of Jiangdong and Huainan are greatly damaged, it will be more than worth the loss.

If the Shu Han group is really directly in a hurry, I am afraid that it will not be a question of whether Cao Wei is willing to abide by the covenant, but whether Dongwu will be attacked by Shu Han and Cao Wei from both sides.

Therefore, Bu Qi believes that now is not a good time to fight a big battle with Shu Han, but should stick to Jiangxia, first protect Jiangxia, the Jiangdong barrier, preserve strength and wait until the time is right, and then draw some elite troops to recapture the four counties of Jingnan and even Jiangling.

Two people, two words, both sound reasonable.

Sun Quan had a hard time making a choice, so he had to ask the old prime minister Zhang Zhao.

And Zhang Zhao, with his eyes closed, did not speak.

It seems to be an old dragon clock, but in fact, Zhang Zhao has already given Sun Quan his own answer.

The rhetoric of Gu Yong and Bu Qi, in fact, in Zhang Zhao's opinion, is already easy to make a choice.

All of Gu Yong's rhetoric is just some face issues, and since the establishment of King Huan of Changsha, there has never been a shortage of people in the so-called "Chao Qin and Twilight Chu". In the final analysis, it is just whether Sun Quan is willing to admit this failure and bear the consequences of this failure.

However, Bu Qi's rhetoric was based on the actual situation, analyzed the current national conditions and the situation in the world, and advised Sun Quan.

One is a matter of face, and the other is the actual situation, but as long as Sun Quan can think calmly, he knows which one to choose.

But in this case, Sun Quan still has to ask Zhang Zhao's opinion, which actually shows that Sun Quan still can't let go of his face.

So what can Zhang Zhao say?!

Sun Quan is no longer the Sun Quan of the past, he is now the lord of a country, and Zhang Zhao, the supreme of Great Wu, is about to enter the earth, so why bother to have any conflicts with Sun Quan.

If you don't speak, it's actually an attitude, that is, to tell Sun Quan, my opinion, if you say it, you won't listen to it, so it's better not to say it, and our monarchs and ministers in the province will look ugly against each other.

And Sun Quan obviously understood the meaning of Zhang Zhao's non-speech - Zhang Zhao was also opposed to continuing to send troops and fighting a decisive battle with the Shu army.

Well, from a rational point of view, Sun Quan also knows that now in the decisive battle with the Shu army, in the end, it is Cao Weike who really lost too badly this time, and he can't swallow this breath.

Moreover, the loss of the four counties of Jingnan led to the lack of defense in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which was also extremely unfavorable to the defense of Eastern Wu.

Sun Quan still couldn't make a final decision and still hesitated.

Sun Quan is waiting, waiting for Lu Xun's reply from Huainan If Lu Xun is sure that he can retake Jingnan, then it is not impossible to fight.

Then Sun Quan waited for Lu Xun's reply.

"There is an order from the king, Xun Zi should be obeyed, and he should personally mention the soldiers of Huainan, go to Jiangxia, and fight the thief to the death."

Well. Forget it, let's strike the troops!!

(End of chapter)