When the sky was dark, the scout ships in Jiangdong had already sailed into the port of Chaisang.

In the past half a month, the scouts in Jiangdong have not been easy.

Although Sun Quan had been paying attention to the development of the Battle of Jingnan, Yiyang was very far away from Jiangdong after all, and Shen Chen deliberately blocked the news.

The Jiangxia navy blocked Baqiu, which meant that the passage of the Yangtze River into Jingnan was blocked, and the scouts either took the land route or tried to smuggle it over at night, so the Jiangdong scouts suffered a lot.

However, Sun Quan also made a bloody investment in order to find out the news, not only did the scout troops send dozens of teams, five or six hundred people, but also spent a lot of money, saying that the first to bring back the news would be rewarded with a hundred gold.

There are scouts who have been lurking in Luoxian, Linxiang, and Yiyang as early as October, and when the war is over, they immediately take great risks overnight and drive their boats along the Yangtze River waterway to Yuzhang.

Although some of the scout ships were wrecked, there were a lucky couple or two. I didn't run aground at night, I didn't overturn the boat by the strong winds and waves on the Yangtze River, and I went back safely.

This made the Battle of Jingnan, which normally took at least more than a month to spread the news, and in less than fifteen days, Sun Quan knew the outcome of the matter.

In the county government mansion of Chaisang County, Sun Quan was still awakened by the slave in his sleep, and learned that the Jingnan war he had been thinking about day and night had ended, so he hurriedly got up from the bed and went to meet the scout.

After he learned the information from the scouts, Sun Quan immediately sent someone to summon Zhou Yu and Lu Su to come over to discuss important matters.

At this time, Zhou Yu was actually not in Chaisang.

He's looking for the sun.

Xunyang and Chaisang are the two starting points for Yuzhang to enter Jiangxia.

From Chaisang, you can only take the waterway, while Xunyang can take the land route, especially Xunyang can go straight to Xiling, Jiangxia's place of governance and the important port of Yixian.

Therefore, whether it is the Sun Ce period or the current Zhou Yu period, the Jiangdong Army will deploy heavy troops in Xunyang.

Now Zhou Yu is also looking for the sun, practicing soldiers every day, just waiting for an opportunity.

Soon after noon, Zhou Yu's ship arrived at the Chaisang wharf.

Chaisang is actually more than 40 kilometers away from Xunyang, but because Xunyang is located a little upstream in the north of the Yangtze River, it is very fast to take a boat, and you can get to Chaisang in an hour.

When entering the Ya Mansion in Chaisang County, Sun Quan and Lu Su chatted for a while, in fact, there were still a lot of talents under Sun Quan at this time.

Like the left Sima Gu Yong, the right Sima Teng Tan, the middle Sima Zhuge Jin and the Lujiang Taishou Sun Shao, the Yangzhou pastor Shi Sun Zhao, engaged in the Zhonglang Yan Ji, the Yangzhou pastor Ji Buqi, the riding capital Yu Yu turned, played Cao Peng Lu Ji and so on.

But now Jiangdong is not peaceful, the Shanyue people have not yet been pacified, before Shen Chen's lake flood directly drowned the Jiangdong army, large and small generals lost countless losses, so the rear urgently needs a large number of officials to appease, he himself is basically only Zhou Yu Lu Su and Zhuge Jin, Gu Yongbu and a few other people to discuss.

And Zhuge Jin, Gu Yongbuqi and others are not enough now, Lu Su because he repelled Shen Chen with less than a thousand people in Zhoukou, he is more and more valued by Sun Quan, if you count Zhang Zhao who stayed behind, then these three people are now Sun Quan's most important staff strategists.

Zhou Yu is now thirty-four years old, and he should have been high-spirited and at the age when he was talking and laughing, but his face was slightly pale at this time, and he occasionally coughed twice, and the sequelae of being flooded in Yixian County are still left behind.

He walked into the hall, and when Sun Quan saw him, he got up and said, "Gong Jin." ”

"Wu Hou."

Zhou Yu bent over and arched his hands, maintaining his respect for Sun Quan, which rarely came from Sun Quan himself, mainly from his brother.

Sun Quan also knew this, nodded and said, "Gong Jin, sit down, come here, bring hot tea." ”

The trend of roasted tea began to be popular in Jingzhou more than ten years ago, and then fed back to Yizhou Bashu, the origin of Han tea drinking, and slowly spread to Jiangdong with the merchant ships on both sides of the Yangtze River.

Because the aroma of roasted tea is overflowing, although it is not bitter, it can refresh the mind, so it gradually became popular in the south, and in the past two years, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, and Lu Su have often drunk tea to refresh themselves.

After Zhou Yu sat down, the maid brought the hot tea, not a cup, but the tea goose used, which is said to be imported from Jingzhou......

"Gong Jin."

Sun Quan waited for Zhou Yu to sit down, and then said, "Recently, the winter has been cold, how are you recuperating from old diseases?" ”

Zhou Yu hurriedly said: "Thanks to Wu Hou's concern, my life has been much better. ”

"Hmm."

Sun Quan nodded and said, "A few days ago, the envoy from Liaodong came back, and Gongsun Kang sent some high-grade ginseng, and I sent it to Gongjin's mansion at that time." ”

"Thank you, Marquis Wu."

Zhou Yu said: "Then Gongsun Kang has already agreed to form an alliance with Wu Hou?" ”

"I haven't said anything yet, I just said I'll wait and see."

Sun Quan's face was as usual.

Historically, he sent an envoy to Liaodong Gongsun Kang before the Battle of Chibi.

Because he was worried that Cao Cao's army would go south and destroy Jiangdong, he sent an envoy to Gongsun Kang, hoping that Gongsun Kang would take the opportunity to attack and harass Cao Cao's rear.

But at that time, Gongsun Kang refused, and the messenger he sent was killed, and the two sides naturally had no intersection.

And the reason why Gongsun Kang rejected Sun Quan at that time was actually because Cao Cao couldn't afford to provoke him. Therefore, when Cao Cao chased and killed Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, he immediately killed the two and dedicated them to Cao Cao.

But now that Cao Cao has not unified the north, and he has just taken Yecheng, Yuan Tan is still in Bohai, and Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi are in Youzhou, so Gongsun Kang has not yet felt Cao Cao's positive pressure, so naturally he will not immediately turn against Sun Quan.

As for why Sun Quan contacted Gongsun Kang now, the reason is simpler.

It was Zhou Yu and Lu Su who analyzed that Cao Cao could not turn a blind eye to the civil strife in Jingzhou, and he would not be stupid enough to sit back and watch the emergence of a unified regime in the south, so once there was a change in Jingzhou, he would inevitably get involved.

Now this time is the most critical time for them in Jiangdong, Liu Cong and Liu Qi are fighting each other, Sun Quan and Cao Cao both want to make a profit, which leads to the discord between the two current allies, Sun Quan is secretly guarding against Cao Cao, so he contacted Gongsun Kang.

Even not only Gongsun Kang, but also Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, senior cadres in Bingzhou, Han Sui in Guanzhong, and Zhang Lu in Xichuan all sent envoys.

Contacting Zhang Lu was to agree with him to fight against Liu Bei together, and to contact Han Sui, Gao Gan, Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Gongsun Kang and others, naturally hoping that they would contain Cao Cao when they devoured Jingzhou, so as not to prevent Cao Cao from suddenly going south, attacking the east and the west, and annexing the south.

After all, don't look at Cao Cao as if he was being restrained in Hebei, but everyone knows that Yuan Tan will not be able to jump for a few days, and he will be cleaned up at the latest in the spring of next year. When the time comes, Cao Cao, who owns Henan and Hebei, will not be unmoved by the turmoil in the south.

Therefore, Sun Quan must plan in advance, at least not when he and Liu Qi and Liu Bei are competing for Jingzhou, Cao Cao suddenly kills from Nanyang or Runan to Jingzhou and Yangzhou to attack and disturb his territory.

"Gongsun Kang is located in the remote eastern part of Liaodong, but he covets Shandong, and has sent fleets to harass Donglai several times, and he may also have some ambitions."

Zhou Yu said: "It's just that Wu Hou still can't rely on outsiders, he has to rely on his own anger." ”

"I know."

Sun Quan said in a deep voice: "Early this morning, the scout sent to Jingnan to inquire about the news has returned. ”

"Oh?"

Zhou Yu hurriedly said: "How is Jingnan now?" ”

Sun Quan said with a tense face: "As Gong Jin Zijing expected, Cai Mao's entire army was annihilated. I knew that he was definitely not Liu Bei Liu Qi's opponent, but I didn't expect him to lose so quickly, and I knew that we should remind him and beware of Liu Bei. ”

"That's too fast......"

Zhou Yu muttered to himself.

Liu Bei had formed an alliance with them in Jiangdong, and they thought that Liu Bei was going to attack Nanjun with Liu Qi.

In this way, Liu Beijun and Liu Qijun have a strength of about 100,000.

Fighting with Cai Mao and Zhang Yun's more than 100,000 horses should be defeated, so that they can benefit from Jiangdong.

Unexpectedly, the two sides were deadlocked for more than half a year, and they didn't do anything.

Jiangdong's side naturally knew that they were watching intensively, but in less than a month, things suddenly became incomprehensible.

Cai Maojun, who was supposed to be in a balanced situation, suddenly collapsed, and Zhang Yun faced Liu Bei and Liu Qi's army alone.

Is this still worth it?

What if Zhang Yun can't bear the pressure and surrenders?

So Sun Quan was a little anxious.

Lu Su, who had not spoken at the moment, said slowly: "In the current situation, Liu Cong will inevitably be difficult to stop Liu Bei and Liu Qi's army, and it is difficult to say which of the two of them will win Jingzhou in the future, but at least we must not let them go so smoothly." ”

"Do you want to send troops now?"

Sun Quan asked.

Zhou Yu nodded and said, "It is true that troops should be sent, but before sending troops, we must contact Cao Cao." ”

"Contact Cao Cao?"

Sun Quan wondered: "Cao Cao is now recovering Hebei, I'm afraid he won't have time to take care of the south." ”

Zhou Yu said: "It is precisely because he is recovering Hebei that he must ask him for help." Otherwise, once Jingzhou is obtained by Liu Bei, it will definitely not be something Cao Cao wants to see. ”

"But what if he goes south?"

Sun Quan worried: "Cao Cao has already won most of Jizhou and Qingzhou, I heard that Yuan Tan fled to the Bohai Sea, and Cao Jun has also chased after him, what if he covets the south and lures the wolf into the house?" ”

Zhou Yu said with a smile: "Cao Cao's rear is unstable, isn't this also the reason why we contacted the princes of the Quartet?" ”

"Hmm......"

Sun Quan pondered for a moment and said, "Then how can we lead Cao Cao to send troops?" ”

Lu Su's eyes condensed slightly: "Nanyang has a large population, the land is fertile, Cao Cao has coveted Nanyang for a long time, if we meet him, we will get Jingzhou, he will get Nanyang, he will send troops to help." ”

Don't look at Nanyang is only a county in Jingzhou, but Nanyang is the richest county, with a population of more than 2 million, accounting for one-third of the total number of Jingzhou.

The most important thing is that other places like Jingnan are not easy to manage due to the remote population, coupled with the fact that there are powerful families who obstruct it, resulting in a very small population controlled by Jingzhou Mushi in Jingnan and other places, and taxes and military resources cannot be collected at all.

Nanyang is different, due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, it was crippled here, there are almost no big family gates, only some small and medium-sized heroes, and the population and taxes are firmly controlled by Xiangyang.

It can be said that today's Liu Biao can have such a big momentum before his death, relying on guarding the Nanyang Basin in front of Cao Cao, relying on the demographic dividend of Guanzhong, Henan and other places and the land and mineral resources of the Nanyang Basin.

Lu Su suggested using Nanyang as bait, which seemed to be just a county for Cao Cao, but in fact it was equivalent to half of Jingzhou, because it had a manageable population, vast fertile land, and a lot of resources readily available.

Once Cao Cao takes control of Nanyang, then Jingzhou's strength will be cut by at least half, returning to the historical background of Liu Biao after pacifying Zhang Xian's rebellion and supporting 100,000 armored men.

So this bait is not only tempting, but very tempting. What's even more powerful is that this land is not an enclave like Guanzhong, but a piece of land directly bordering Cao Cao's base camp Henan, which can be stationed with a large army, which is very tempting for Cao Cao.

However, Sun Quan has long coveted this land, and said dissatisfied: "Nanyang is the land of Guangwu Longxing, and in the past ten years, there have been few wars, the soil is fertile, and the people are thriving. ”

Lu Su said with a smile: "Don't worry, Marquis Wu, then Liu Bei wanted to exchange an alliance with us with a piece of barbarian Jiaozhou, but we were forced to agree because we had no choice but to do so." But Nanyang is not as good as Jiaozhou, Cao Cao will definitely covet Nanyang, but Wu Hou should not forget that Liu Bei and the foundation of that Shen Chen are in Nanyang. ”

"What do you mean?"

Sun Quan's eyes widened.

Lu Su said: "This plan is a plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, I heard that in the early years, Xun Wenruo of Yingchuan used this plan to let Liu Bei, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu kill each other, and finally Cao Cao won Henan." ”

Zhou Yu coughed twice, and said softly: "Zi Jing's plan is very second, although Cao Cao has not yet gotten the north, but it has come to an end, he will definitely not immediately go south when he has not swept away his worries, but it is still okay to send a small number of troops and horses to attack and contain Liu Bei Shenchen's troops, and we will attack from the north and south, and we will win Jingzhou." ”

Sun Quan said worriedly: "Having said that, do you really want to give up Nanyang to Cao Cao?" ”

Lu Su said with a smile: "The north is uneven, Cao Cao does not dare to go south, after destroying Yuan Tan, he still has to go to Youzhou to exterminate Yuan Shang Yuan Xi, and even Liaodong Gongsun Kang, at least within three years, it is impossible to march in a big way, at most send one or two thousand horses to come over and attack in sheep, when the time comes, Nanyang will not give it or not, is it not Wu Hou who has the final say?" ”

Zhou Yu said seriously: "Yes, now our top priority is that we should take the opportunity to attack Jingzhou, as long as the Jiangxia Sailor is destroyed, we will at least be invincible." This time, we will attack Jiangxia in the name of killing Huang Zu and avenging Wuchenghou! ”

This is what they have planned for a long time.

Although he formed an alliance with Liu Bei before, he was only forced by the situation.

Therefore, the Jiangdong strategists have long discussed, once Liu Qi and Liu Bei's group and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun's group fight to lose, they will tear up the alliance with Liu Bei in the name of revenge for Sun Jian, and quickly intervene in the battlefield to make a wave of fishermen profit.

It's just that I didn't expect Cai to be defeated too quickly, so they didn't have time to send troops immediately.

Fortunately, Zhang Yun still has tens of thousands of horses left.

If they can bring Cao Cao to attack Nanyang and contain a part of Liu Bei's army, then they can show their strength on the Yangtze River, as long as Huang Zu's Jiangxia sailors are destroyed, there will be no navy on the Yangtze River that can threaten them in a short time, then they will have a lot to do.

After that, he contacted Liu Cong, attacked Liu Bei with Zhang Yun, defeated Liu Bei, and then annexed Liu Cong, and the entire Jingzhou was naturally at his fingertips.

As for the Nanyang Basin promised to Cao Cao?

I'm sorry.

What did I promise you?

I forgot.

By all means next time!

Of course.

These are the most desirable states.

The war is not only fought against the two armies, but also through diplomatic mediation.

Historically, there have been countless diplomatic mediations like this between the Sun, Cao and Liu families.

Therefore, Sun Quan sent troops this time to see if he could move Cao Cao and ask him to send at least tens of thousands of horses over to pretend to be a prestige.