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There is a small alley near Caohe in the south of Wuchang County, called Xunyang Alley. There are five or six families in the alley, most of which are businessmen who rent here. The alley is quite wide and can be used to use carriages. The carriages come and go, making this alley very lively.

As night fell, a man with a businessman looked like a man hurried into the alley on a donkey. He went to the innermost gate, turned over and jumped off the donkey's back, stepped forward and patted the door.

A visiting hole was opened in the door, revealing a pale face. He looked at the man knocking on the door, opened the door halfway, and hurriedly said, "Come in quickly, the boss is waiting for you."

The man led the donkey into the door, threw the reins to the doorkeeper, walked directly to the backyard, and came to a room in the backyard and knocked on the door, "Report, I have something to do."

"Come in" a sound of anticipation came from the house.

The man pushed the door and entered the room. The lights were bright. A middle-aged man was busy sitting in front of the desk and writing something. He looked back at the reporter and smiled and said, "It must bring important information."

This small courtyard is the intelligence base in Wuchang, which has been in Jiangdong for more than ten years. Jingzhou has always been the enemy of Jiangdong. Since the Sun Jian era, Jiangdong has set up a site in Jingzhou to inquire about intelligence. There are two intelligence bases, one in Xiangyang, that is, the Wangjiang Tavern outside Xiangyang City, and the other in Wuchang County.

The intelligence leader in charge of Jiangxia County was the short and fat middle-aged man. His name was Jiang Yi, a native of Dongwu. He had been in Jiangxia for nearly twenty years under the cover of business. He first tried to find out about Liu Biao, and now he was inquiring about Liu Jing's information.

During this period, a lot of things happened in Jingzhou, which made Jiang Yi very busy. He sent all his subordinates to inquire about the news. After getting the news, he sent it to Jiangdong through a pigeon letter.

However, Wuchang County strictly prohibits private pigeon raising, and their pigeons are kept in Fankou Town, and they have to go to Fankou to release pigeons every two days.

The man stepped forward and bowed to Jiang Yi and said, "Just just got the news that Pengze Water Village was destroyed by Liu Jing's five thousand troops. Today, the warship returned from Pengze. I heard that Huang Bian was also captured."

This news surprised Jiang Yi. He knew that the Jiangxia army had already sent troops to Qichun County this morning, but he didn't know that something happened to Pengze's side. He hurriedly asked: "The news is accurate."

"It must be accurate. Bei Yi has seen the captured Jiangdong soldiers disembark, and there are also a large number of Jiangdong warships, all with the signs of Pengze Water Village."

Jiang Yi thought for a moment, immediately lifted the fine pen and wrote a few more lines under the thin silk yarn. Then he carefully blew it dry, rolled it into the letter tube, and handed it to his subordinates next to him, "Go to Fankou to deliver the letter immediately, go now."

.........

After five days of sailing, the Jiangdong fleet arrived at Ankou, which is where the Anqing River enters the river, which is today's Anqing. There is a small town east of the Anhui River, which is an important supply place on the Yangtze River. Eight warships of the Jiangdong fleet were moored at Ankou, and this stop was the sky.

The soldiers didn't know what happened, only the core senior officials knew. Cao's army provided 5,000 barrels of turmeric oil to the Jiangdong Army. When they came from Hefei, the fleet was moored at the Ankou area and waited for the batch of turmeric oil.

In addition, Wankou Town is also the Gexin Transfer Station of Jiangdong Army, and Sun Quan can also get the latest news about Jiangxia here.

It was not far from Wankou to Pengze, and it was still two days' voyage, but in the afternoon, Sun Quan unexpectedly received a pigeon letter from Jiang Yi, the head of Wuchang intelligence, which reported a major event that happened in Jiangxia.

In the cabin, Sun Quan was paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, looking very irritable. There was a cup that had fallen into pieces on the ground, and the guards did not dare to go over to clean up, for fear of angering Sun Quan.

At this time, Sun Quan shouted angrily: "Why haven't the military advisor come yet?"

"I have already invited you," the two guards said tremblingly.

"Go and invite again"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Zhao's laughter came from the door, "It seems that Wu Hou is in a bad mood."

Zhang Zhao walked in, and Sun Quan finally looked forward to him, and couldn't help but sigh, "Some unpleasant things happened."

Zhang Zhao glanced at the water cup fragments on the ground and thought to himself, it seemed that things were serious.

He then ordered the guards, "Check out the fragments on the ground."

The two guards quickly packed up the fragments and retreated. Sun Quan finally calmed down and waved his hand and said, "Military advisor, please sit down."

Zhang Zhao sat down and asked with a smile: "I don't know what unpleasant things happened."

Sun Quan took out the re-transcribed information and handed it to Zhang Zhao, "See it for yourself"

Zhang Zhao took the letter and frowned slightly. The letter said a major event, one was that the Jiangxia army had recovered Xiangyang and drove Cao's army through the Han River. The second was that the Jiangxia army sent tens of thousands of troops to Qichun County and had occupied Qichun County. The first major event was that the Jiangxia army swept through Pengze Water Village, and Huang Bing was unfortunately captured.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhao sighed in his heart. A few days ago, when he heard that Xu Sheng had successfully attacked Chaisang, he was very worried that Pengze Water Village would be empty and would be attacked by the Jiangxia army. However, Wu Hou was ecstatic and praised Xu Sheng for his ability. He did not dare to mention Peng Ze's affairs to avoid scattering Wu Hou's interest. But now it seems that his worries are not redundant.

Zhang Zhao could understand that Wu Hou was in a bad mood, especially the last two news, which could be said to have severely damaged Wu Hou's confidence.

But Zhang Zhao also knew that he needed to boost Wu Hou's confidence now and that his bad emotions could not affect morale. Zhang Zhao smiled slightly and said, "In fact, we did not suffer any major losses. Pengze was swept away, but money, food and materials were taken away by the Jiangxia army. But if we defeat the Jiangxia army and seize Wuchang, we would hoard ten times the materials stored in the Wuchang warehouse than Pengze.

Secondly, Qichun is sparsely populated and has little impact on Jiangdong. Although the Jiangxia army occupied it, we can just take it back. Although the Jiangxia army is easy to obtain, it is also easy to lose it."

Sun Quan sighed, "But without Qichun County, our navy will not be able to join General Cheng's army and form an advantageous force."

Zhang Zhao thought for a while and said, "This is easy, so we changed our plan and built a water village in Chaisang, using Chaisang as the main garrison to compete with the Jiangxia army, and then used ships to pick up General Cheng's army to Chaisang. In addition, we also had turbulence, and our chances of victory accounted for at least 50%.

Fortunately, Xu Sheng seized Chaisang, which comforted Sun Quan's depressed mood slightly. He was not prepared to punish Xu Sheng anymore.

However, when talking about tinder, Sun Quan remembered Cao Cao's treacherousness and couldn't help but say angrily: "Cao's army was obviously driven past the Han River, and he also promised to attack the Jiangxia army from behind. This obviously made me cheat. If I believe him and expect him to come back to attack the Jiangxia army, I must die in his hands."

Zhang Zhao knew in his heart that this was Cao Cao's vicious plan, hoping that the Jiangdong Army and the Jiangxia Army would be both defeated and that the title of Cheng Pu as the governor of Nanjun was Cao Cao's plan to sow discord, but he could not say this now.

Zhang Zhao said slowly: "This time Cao Cao's defeat in Jingzhou, he had a deep hatred for Liu Jing, but he was unable to fight again, so he wanted to use our hands to eradicate Liu Jing. Although he was using us, we had common interests in the point of eliminating Liu Jing.

This is also the reason why Cao Cao gave us tincture oil. We did not lose it. Instead, the tincture oil provided by Cao Cao is of great help to us, allowing us to compete with the Jiangxia army on the river surface. Therefore, Wu Hou did not have to care about Cao Cao's attitude. From a pragmatic perspective, cooperation with Cao Cao is still more beneficial than disadvantages for us."

Zhang Zhao's bitter advice made Sun Quan's annoyed mood gradually improve again. He forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your guidance from the military advisor. I am in a much better mood now."

Zhang Zhao smiled, "That should be the case. Before the war began, Wu Hou was hit by Liu Jing's confidence. This is not possible."

Sun Quan nodded, "I understand."

At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside, and my sister Sun Shangxiang was heard outside the door, "Brother, there is a ship behind me, and the turd oil sent by Cao's army should have arrived."

The reason why Sun Shangxiang went to the army this time was naturally because of Sun Quan's foresight. In fact, he was already considering the situation. As the lord of Jiangdong, he could not go all the way to the dark. He could demote Zhou Yu and alienate Lu Su. This was just a gesture, but he also had to keep a back.

After all, Zhou Yu's words were still echoing in Sun Quan's ears. Their strength was already weaker than that of the Jiangxia army. After all, they were defeated by the Jiangxia army seven years ago. The tragic experience seemed to have happened yesterday. How could he forget it?

Sun Quan quickly glanced at Zhang Zhao, saw a strange look flashing in his eyes, and explained with a wry smile: "With this fierce sister, no one who is a brother can worry about it."

Sun Quan refers to the affairs of the Gu family in the Eastern Wu. Zhang Zhao of course knew that Sun Shangxiang used an arrow to reject the Gu family's marriage, which had caused a sensation all over the city.

Not only that, Sun Shangxiang was wearing armor and weapons every day, demonstrating in front of the Gu family, forcing Gu Yong to publicly announce that the Gu family would not consider marrying Wu Hou for the time being, which calmed the marriage storm.

Zhang Zhao also knew that Sun Quan was very annoyed with his sister, but... If he was afraid that his sister would cause trouble again, he would just be confined to her. Why should he bring her to the battle together?

Zhang Zhao also smiled, said nothing, and went out of the cabin door.

Sun Shangxiang was no longer outside the cabin. She walked quickly to the bow and watched the transport fleet coming from Hefei from afar. She was wearing fine gold scales, silk ribbons, silver helmet on her head, leather boots on her feet, a green moon sword on her waist, a sculpting bow and golden feathered arrow on her back, which made her look slender and heroic, like a thorny rose blooming on the river.

This was her second time with the army. When she was very young, her elder brother Sun Ce took her to Lujiang. That expedition left her an unforgettable impression.

It is precisely because of this that she admires her strong elder brother deeply in her heart, and also gives her harsh conditions for her future husband.

She used her elder brother Sun Ce as the ruler to choose her son-in-law, and could not tolerate her future pillow is a weak scholar who is powerless. She wants to marry a hero in the world like her elder brother Sun Ce.

This expedition made Sun Shangxiang full of excitement. She could finally conquer the battlefield like a man and fight for the country.

At this time, the fleet coming from afar slowly stopped. A patrol boat came over to report that it was the fleet carrying 5,000 barrels of tinder oil. The arrival of 5,000 barrels of tinder oil undoubtedly greatly boosted the morale of the Jiangdong Army. An hour later, the fleet sailed again towards Chaisang.

............

Although Chaisang had experienced a night of change, there was no major riots among the people of Chaisang, only the people were panicked.

The key is that Xu Sheng did not order the city to massacre, nor did he plunder money from house to house, stabilizing the situation in Chaisang.

However, Xu Sheng still ordered martial law throughout the city to prevent ordinary people from going to the streets. He only gave an hour at noon to allow people to go to the streets to buy vegetables and rice.

Five days have passed since the fall of Chaisang, and Chaisang City has calmed down from the initial panic. At the same time, the Jiangxia army did not launch a large-scale counterattack and seize the city. Except for the occasional Jiangxia patrol ships on the river, the Jiangxia army did not make any movement.

This gradually stabilized the Jiangdong army and completely controlled the Chaisang City. The martial law began to loosen and the daytime martial law was lifted. However, the curfew continued at night. At the same time, the city gate that had been closed was also opened during the day, allowing farmers outside the city to go to the city to sell rice and vegetables.

Early this morning, outside the West City of Chaisang, several vegetable sellers anxiously waiting for Kaicheng were crowded with fish, shrimps, meat, various vegetables, poultry and eggs. For them, it was a rare good business these days, with prices rising by 50%. In order to be sought after, they always sold out in one hour. Some farmers ran twice a day and gained a lot.

Behind the crowd were more than a dozen ox carts, which were loaded with various agricultural products. A corner flag was inserted into the carport of the ox cart and the word "Zhu" was written on it. This was the manor of the Zhu family, the largest family in Chaisang, and the delivery was carried in the city.

The first prominent family in Chaisang was originally the Tao family, but as the Tao family's family business slowly moved to Wuchang, there were only less than Cheng's tribe left in the Chaisang Tao Mansion, which was chaired by Tao Qun. Another wealthy family, Zhou, gradually moved to Jiangdong in recent years, and the Zhu family was the only one left in Chaisang.

At this time, the city gate finally opened slowly, and farmers waiting anxiously outside flocked in. The soldiers guarding the city hurriedly stopped him, "Don't panic, come one by one, you can enter the city after verifying the card."

Although Xu Sheng canceled the martial law during the day and opened the city gate, he was very careful and was generally only allowed to enter but not exit. Even farmers who entered the city to sell vegetables must verify the temporary waist signs. Only vegetable farmers outside the city and farmers from large families can deliver goods to the city gate.

When traveling from other places to visit relatives, merchants and others are not allowed to enter the city, and merchant ships are not allowed to dock. For the Jiangdong Army, now is the war period, and they must follow the rules during the war.

In fact, any rules have to be implemented by people. If they are not strictly enforced, there will be loopholes. For example, some farmers don’t have to go to the city, but they can also apply for a badge and sell them to outsiders who are eager to enter the city. This is an income.

There are also loopholes in the deliverymen in the farm. If they have too many people with them, they can collect money and bring foreigners into the city. It is impossible to question them one by one.

Therefore, if a large city with densely populated population like Chaisang cannot be suppressed strictly, and it is inevitable that there will be loopholes. However, if the prevention is strengthened, it will be better than nothing. At least several people will not get involved in the city.

The farmers selling vegetables all had waist signs. After checking and verifying them one by one, they carried the burden into the city. At this time, more than 20 ox carts drove near the city gate and were immediately stopped by the soldiers. The manager hurriedly took out a waist sign and said, "We are the farm in the farm outside the city, and we are here to deliver goods to the owner's mansion."

The magistrate of Zhu County, Zhu Xun, was appointed by Liu Jing. However, since the Zhu family was the largest family in Chaisang, Xu Sheng ordered Zhu Xun to continue to serve as the magistrate in order to control Chaisang and stabilize the situation in Chaisang.

Heard that it was delivering goods to the county magistrate's mansion, the soldiers guarding the city hurried to report to the officer on duty. After a moment, a military marquis quickly walked out of the city. The other party had a waist sign that allowed to enter the city. There was no big problem, but it seemed that there were too many people.

Junhou looked at the ox cart and saw that there were ten people driving each ox cart. He frowned and said, "General Xu has an order. The number of people entering the city together should not exceed ten. You are too many."

The manager hurriedly gave Junhou a ingot of five taels of gold, and bowed and said, "We have twenty-five ox carts, and at least twenty-five people need to drive the car. Can the general be compatible?"

Junhou pinched gold, which was quite strong. When he saw the gold, he didn't want to make things difficult for them, so he ordered his subordinates, "Give them two more waist cards."

He said to the manager with a stern face: "There are strict orders above, I cannot violate them. I can only enter ten people at a time. You can do it yourself."

This is called having policies from the top and countermeasures from the bottom. Xu Sheng did not allow ten people to enter the city at one time. If the Marquis of the City guards get the benefits, he would divide the ten people into one, which would not be considered a violation of the order.

The manager knew it well and immediately divided the ox cart into teams. Everyone went into the city separately, holding a sign of the waist. The soldiers found no problem and put them into the county town.

The team of ox carts entered the city and headed towards the south of the city. When they passed the Tao Mansion, they saw soldiers guarding the door of the Tao Mansion. They were closely guarded and were not allowed to enter. The manager couldn't help but shake his head. This time, the Jiangdong Army occupied Chaisang, and the Tao family was obviously the first to suffer.
Chapter completed!