In March of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, in April 219 AD, Sun Quan of Jiangdong received a letter from Liu Bei.

The letter said that he was fighting with Cao Cao in Longyou, and Cao Cao's main forces had been pinned down by him in Xiliang, hoping that Sun Quan would take advantage of this opportunity to decisively send troops to Hefei, occupy Huainan, and threaten Cao Cao's center.

At this time, of course, Liu Bei and Sun Quan have not yet become enemies, the superficial relationship between the two sides is an ally, and Liu Bei also married Sun Shangxiang, which is an in-law relationship, and the relationship is extremely close.

Since the plot of the two sides is only known to the high-level officials, and even Zhang Zhao and the others only knew about this matter at the end of last year, outsiders are even more unaware that they have long been intrigued, secretly dirty, and plotting with each other.

Therefore, at least on the surface, Sun Quan thought that his disguise had deceived Liu Bei, and when he saw this letter from Liu Bei, he immediately became happy.

"Liu Bei also has a day of begging for orphans." In the mouth of the beard, in Sun Quan's mansion, he looked at the letter, looked around and smiled proudly at everyone: "He begged Gu to send troops to Hefei to relieve the siege of Xiliang." He smiled grimly: "A few days ago, Cao Cao also sent a letter over, saying that he had trapped Liu Bei's main force in Xieyu Pass in Guanzhong, Rongqiu Mountain in Xiliang Lucheng, and even Nanyang's army was confronting Shen Chen in Taiting, and the rear of Jingzhou was completely empty, so let us send troops." ”

"Hahaha." Sun Quan laughed heartily and said: "If Cao Cao and Liu Bei fight each other today, the world says that Lone is the weakest and will be occupied by them in the future." But now Cao Liu wants to ask for loneliness, whoever is lonely will be destroyed, and they also have today! Kan Ze said: "Now Cao Cao and Liu Bei are going to win over Wu Hou, this is a good time for Wu Hou to make contributions." Perhaps after this battle, Wu Hou will be able to dominate in the south. ”

"Yes, Jingzhou is empty, and Wu Hou can take advantage of it."

"Huainan can also be, if Huainan can be controlled in his hands, Wu Hou's strength will be even stronger."

"But Huainan ...... Forget it, let's talk about it later, it's important to take Jingzhou first. ”

"Yes, Marquis Wu, don't pay attention to Liu Bei's words, wait patiently, and wait until the grain, grass, soldiers and horses are almost transported, and then you can start the attack." Zhuge Jin, Gu Yong, Sun Shao, Kan Ze, and Yan Jian expressed their opinions one after another.

Zhang Zhao is not here, he is in the rear. Below, only Lu Xun didn't say a word, sitting cross-legged on the end seat, smiling silently.

Sun Quan saw that he was abnormal, so he asked curiously: "Bo Yan, everyone has their own opinions, why are you silent." Lu Xun got up and arched his hand and said, "Back to Wu Hou, Xun thinks that we should still pretend." ”

"Oh?" Sun Quan stretched out his hand and gestured, "Tell me more." Lu Xun explained: "Our every move is in the eyes of Huang Jie and Zhao Yun, if we don't act, I'm afraid they will be suspicious." ”

"Hmm......" Sun Quan thought about it, and he remembered that it was Lu Su who suggested that he should send troops to Hefei at Liu Bei's request.

The purpose of this was, of course, to show obedience to Liu Bei in order to confuse him. But more importantly, Cao Cao's Huainan was indeed very empty at that time, Hefei had 7,000 people, and Cao Cao was in Kouluoguan Zhongxi Liang at that time, and an unguarded Huainan did not pick up nothing.

It's a pity that the result of that expedition ....... Thinking of this, Sun Quan hesitated: "Hefei City has thick walls, I'm afraid it is not so simple to capture...... Lu Xun smiled: "It's not to attack Hefei, but in the name of attacking Hefei, land and water at the same time, raid Xunyang from Jiangbei, cooperate with the naval army to seize Xiling, and then the army goes straight to Jiangxia!" ”

"Hmm." Sun Quan nodded slightly, this is a good idea. Because Sun Quan's forces fully retreated to Jiangdong and had no control over Huainan at all, they could only send troops from the water.

If the attack on Hefei is used as an excuse to enter Chaohu Lake and attack Xunyang by land from the south of Chaohu Lake, then the water and land will be able to cooperate with each other.

Lu Xun continued: "There are still three questions in front of us now, one is Shen Chenjun. ”

"Although Shen Chenjun confronted Cao Hong in Taiting, he burned a lot of grain and grass for Cao Hong last year, and then came to Chendu, causing a lot of prestige and hitting the morale of Cao Jun."

"At this time, the two have not yet fought, but they have been facing each other for more than 20 miles, if Jingzhou is attacked, Shen Chen will definitely leave a part of the soldiers and horses to help, his soldiers are all elite soldiers, if he gallops to Xiakou, it will be difficult for us to deal with the Jiangxia naval army." After Lu Xun's words were finished, Zhuge Jin also nodded and said: "That's the truth, if you can communicate with Cao Hong, I hope he can take the initiative to attack and entangle Shen Chen's main force, it would be great." Sun Quan said: "Then this matter will be handled by Lone, and Lone will write a letter to tell Cao Hong that it was Cao Cao who asked Lone to help send troops, hoping that he can cooperate." ”

"Wu Hou Yingming." Lu Xun patted Sun Quan's ass slightly, and then continued: "The second problem is that the grain and grass have not been fully transported at present, and we have transported grain from the mountains, although it is hidden, but it is slow after all, and the soldiers and horses have not been thoroughly trained, and it is expected that at least until June and July will be able to reluctantly send troops." Sun Quan frowned, this is indeed a serious problem.

Because the family involved their own interests, they were afraid that after being annexed by Liu Bei, the Jiangdong Shi clan was liquidated, and Liu Bei forced them to hand over the population and land, so they could only choose to tie up with Sun Quan on a warship, so they contributed.

But no matter what, since they want to attack from Jingnan and Yuzhang, they must prepare a large amount of grain and grass, and the private soldiers handed over by the families must also be divided and retrained.

Even though they had been secretly operating as early as a few years ago, they were afraid that Liu Bei would have a presence in Jiangdong at that time, so they did not dare to be blatant, so they could only secretly transport grain from the southeast hills to Nanchang for storage on the grounds of crusading against Shanyue.

However, in ancient times, it was not easy to store grain, and it was necessary to build a granary to prevent moisture and ventilation, and it was necessary to take out the grain from time to time to dry, and it was difficult to store it for a year or two, let alone three or four years.

Therefore, the grain and grass in Guiyang has not been enough, and it is usually supplemented by plundering Jiaozhou, but when there is a big battle, a large number of soldiers and horses are dispatched, and they have to manage so many people and auxiliary soldiers, and the troops and population involved are hundreds of thousands, and the grain and grass needed are also hundreds of millions of stones, which is so easy to collect?

After thinking for a moment, Sun Quan asked, "If the Lone Sect exterminated the Shanyue in that area, killed them all, and plundered their grain and grass, would it be enough?" ”

"That's probably enough." Lu Xun replied.

"Hmm." Sun Quan nodded: "Then let He Qi and Zhu Ran go." ”

"Yui." Lu Xun responded. The Shanyue Rebellion was not completely eliminated until the destruction of the Eastern Wu Kingdom. Over the years, although Sun Quan has also repeatedly attacked, constantly attacking Shanyue and plundering their population and materials to make up for the losses of Jiangdong over the years.

However, the southeastern hills stretched for hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, and Sun Quan sent troops many times, only attacking the peripheral areas close to Jiangdong.

In deeper places, such as the large area around Huangshan City in Anhui Province in later generations, there are still many mountains inhabiting it.

They were actually Han people who had taken refuge in the mountains due to the war, but because they did not pay taxes, did not accept conscription, and refused to be conscripted into the army, they became the targets of the government's attack, which is commonly known as black households.

Sun Quan's attitude towards them was to kill, rob, and plunder, and force them to become obedient people under his rule. Now the Guiyang front is dispatching troops, according to Sun Quan's intentions, it takes at least 100,000 troops to send troops to Xiling, and to take Jingnan, and then block Yidao Yiling, and then cooperate with the eastern front army to flank Jiangxia, then Guiyang must also need at least 40,000 or 50,000 people.

If it was Sun Quan in history, he would naturally have these troops. Because before and after the Battle of Chibi, his total strength had exceeded 100,000, and when the Xiangjiang River confronted, he brought 80,000 people to confront Liu Bei 50,000.

After several battles of Hefei, each time more than 100,000 people were dispatched, and even the last time he fought Hefei, Wu Guo Taifu Zhuge Ke brought 200,000 horses and horses, and surrounded Hefei.

Therefore, counting the troops left behind in the rear and deployed in Jingzhou, at least before backstabbing allies, Sun Quan's total strength should be between 250,000 and 400,000, which is still very powerful.

But what about now? The battle of Yixian, flooded. The Battle of Hongkou, burned by fire. The battle of Hefei didn't have much loss, but Sun Quan certainly didn't have a good time.

After several heavy defeats, Sun Quan's total army suffered heavy losses. As a last resort, he could only compromise with the Jiangdong clan, and this time it was also a half-threatening and half-compromise way to let those big families bleed.

After all the sums of them, he gathered more than 200,000 horses, counting the troops left behind in the rear, the soldiers and horses he could dispatch were probably only 1440,000 people, and the fight was very reluctant.

And this is in the case of the family's bloodletting. If the family does not cooperate this time, it is estimated that Sun Quan's total strength will be more than 100,000 people, and the number of troops that can be dispatched is probably less than 100,000.

After all, people can dispatch so many men, which means that counting the troops left behind in the rear, the total strength may have exceeded 400,000, and Cao Cao may have exceeded 500,000 or 600,000.

Therefore, Sun Quan urgently needed to concentrate his troops, mainly in Mixukou, Chaisang, Guiyang and other places, as long as he could quickly take Jingnan and Jiangxia Xiling, he would not be able to replenish the army.

Lu Xun finally said: "The last problem is also the most difficult problem to solve. We need to see the right time to fight, but if we are advancing on both sides, how can the army of Gyeyang attack at the same time as us? Even if it is an appointed time, if the timing is not good, or the heavens are not beautiful, wouldn't it be a waste of all the previous achievements? ”

As soon as the question of "this ......" came out, Sun Quan was stumped all of a sudden. Zhuge Jin and others around him also had a difficult face.

In the past, they only thought about the two-way army, but they forgot about the issue of coordination for a while. At that time, the means of communication were extremely backward, and the beacon fire was already the most advanced means of transmitting information at that time.

But that method is not hidden, and if it is seen by the enemy, it will definitely be suspicious. And how far does it have to be repaired from Chaisang to Guiyang County?

So the means of communication are really a big problem. All the people were sad. Only Sun Quan noticed that Lu Xun's face was as usual, so he asked, "Isn't Bo Yan a plan?" Lu Xun smiled and arched his hand: "I was about to report to Wu Hou." ”

"Oh?" Sun Quan hurriedly said, "Come on." Lu Xun said: "When I was in Wu County, I saw a mountain Yue people raising pigeons. ”

"Pigeons?" Everyone wondered, this thing was indeed more widespread at that time, and many people in the court and the people were keen to raise it, but what does this have to do with spreading the message?

Lu Xun explained: "The Shanyue people were migrated, but his family remained in the mountains, I once saw him release the pigeon in his hand, and finally found his former residence and brought back a little piece of cloth. ”

"You mean, this pigeon has the ability to go home?" Sun Quan asked. Lu Xun nodded: "Exactly, it is rumored that Zhang Qian and Ban Chao envoys to the Western Regions used pigeons to transmit messages and tied ropes to the pigeon's feet, and the color of the rope represents a kind of meaning." Although I don't know if the rumors are true or not, but now that the paper is lighter, if you tie a note, wouldn't it be able to pass on military orders? "At the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, because Liu Bang thought that the pigeons were auspicious, he raised a lot of them in the palace.

As the so-called upward and downward effect, due to Liu Bang's liking, the ministers and the people have also raised, resulting in the popularity of folk pigeon breeding, anyway, it is not troublesome to raise, it is a big deal to eat pigeon meat in the future.

In later generations, a large number of pottery pigeons and bronze pigeons of the Western Han Dynasty were unearthed, as well as some documents, which proved that at this time, the folk pigeon gradually became a kind of domestic animal.

However, the carrier pigeon was not clearly recorded in the history books until the Tang Dynasty, and after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it widely appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, Liao, Western Xia, Jin, Southern Song Dynasty, Yuan and other national history books, which was really used in war.

But this does not mean that the people of the Han Dynasty did not know that pigeons had the ability to navigate. It's just that at that time, bamboo slips were used for writing instead of paper, and pigeons could not carry bamboo slips, so it was reasonable to wait until the Tang Dynasty paper was popularized among the people, and carrier pigeons appeared.

But that's different now. Because the perfect recipe for paper has been around for more than twenty years. Shen Chen had craftsmen try and error in Nanyang, and finally found the best paper recipe using bamboo as a raw material.

This naturally changed with the advent of new paper. The last time Lu Xun saw the Shanyue people using pigeons, he had an idea, and felt that if he tied a light note to the pigeon's feet to pass the book, wouldn't it be able to deliver the news in a very short time?

So after thinking of this problem, he immediately went to do the experiment, but he did not expect that the Shanyue man could really let the pigeon carry the letter back to the tribe in the southeast hills.

Now they are facing problems with communication. Wouldn't the appearance of pigeons solve this problem?

When Sun Quan heard Lu Xun's words, he hurriedly asked, "Is this matter sure to be feasible?" Lu Xun nodded seriously: "It's feasible, Xun has already tried." ”

"Hahaha." Sun Quan was immediately overjoyed, and said happily: "Even the heavens are helping Gu, and it is better to be lonely than to have an army of 100,000." Lu Xun humbly bowed his head and smiled and arched his hand: "This is all the destiny of Wu Hou!" ”

"Hahaha." Sun Quan laughed and said, "Then this matter will be handled by Bo Yan." ”

"Yui." Lu Xun bowed again. The three problems have been solved, and Jiangdong is prosperous, in one fell swoop!