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When the 100,000 Jiangdong Army gradually approached Poyang County, the Jiaozhou Army had withdrawn completely. Zhang Fei's army withdrew from Poyang County, and Zhuge Liang's main force also withdrew from Nanchang County, the capital of Yuzhang County, to Xinwu County, 15 miles away. Yuzhang County is one of the most important counties in the southern region, with a large population and abundant resources. There are as many as fifteen counties under the county. Xinwu County is a newly built county town built by the Jiangdong Army after occupying Yuzhang County. As the name suggests, it is the new Wu County.

The wall of Xinwu County is nearly twenty miles long, with a tall and strong wall, and a moat around it. It is an inland military center in Yuzhang County. Its important journey is second only to Nanchang County, with a population of nearly 20,000.

Zhuge Liang did not consider using Nanchang County as the base from the beginning. The reason is very simple. Nanchang is close to Ganjiang River and Jiangdong's fleet can be directly killed, which is not conducive to the weak Jiaozhou army.

Secondly, Xinwu County is located in hilly areas with undulating mountains, rivers and plains mixed together, which is very conducive to ambush warfare. For the Jiaozhou army who is good at mountain warfare, Xinwu County is undoubtedly more suitable than Nanchang County.

So when the Jiaozhou Army occupied Yuzhang County, the first thing Zhuge Liang did was to move a large amount of food and grass from Nanchang County to Xinwu County, and prepare to use Xinwu County as a base to fight against the Jiangdong Army.

In the Jiaozhou Army's central tent, Zhuge Liang was discussing the upcoming battle with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others. The barracks were preparing for war and training. The atmosphere before the war was already very strong. The morale of the Jiaozhou Army was high and everyone was eager to try.

But Guan Yu seemed a little worried. His vague attitude towards the Han army may be related to his capture by the Han army. He always felt that the Han army would not tolerate their occupation of the four counties in Jingnan.

Although the Han army is now using the Jiaozhou army to weaken the Jiangdong army, if they defeat the Jiangdong army, will the Han army take the lead and drive them back to Jiaozhou?

Guan Yu finally couldn't help saying: "Military advisor, I think we should negotiate with Liu Jing to clarify the ownership of the four counties in Jingnan. We can't wait until we defeat the Jiangdong Army, but we finally made a wedding dress for nothing. This won't work."

Zhuge Liang shook his head, "I might as well tell Yun Chang openly that Liu Jing of the four counties in Jingnan will never give it to us, and I don't have to negotiate with Liu Jing, I know it."

Guan Yu was stunned and couldn't speak for a long time, but Zhang Fei said anxiously: "Since the four counties in Jingnan do not have our share, why are we going to have sex? Go home and have a baby."

Zhuge Liang laughed and said to Zhang Fei: "Although the four counties in Jingnan cannot be obtained in the end, our northern expedition was only to use the four counties in Jingnan. Our real purpose was to seize Yuzhang County and Poyang County, and then open the Jiaozhou main road south, so that we can have our own northward passage. This is actually to seize land from Jiangdong and has nothing to do with Jingzhou. I believe Liu Jing will be happy to see the fierce battle between us and the Jiangdong Army."

"But the battle with the Jiangdong Army is not easy to fight," Guan Yu sighed.

"It is indeed difficult to fight. Jiangdong's troops are four times that of ours. We are under great pressure, but they also have weaknesses. First, they are not good at mountain warfare. Second, the front line is long and the troops are easily dispersed, which makes it easier for us to defeat them. Moreover, this time Sun Quan actually took charge of the commander himself, which seems to be very important, but in fact, this will weaken the decision-making power of the front-line commander and be detrimental to the decision-making of the front-line commander. The Jiangdong army has failed several times, but they seem to have not learned a lesson."

At this time, the military tutor Chen Zhen added, "I know the reason why Sun Quan personally takes charge, and he has his own difficulties."

"Oh, Xiaoqi, tell me." Zhuge Liang smiled.

"In fact, the root of the failures of the Jiangdong army several times is their internal struggle. There are many factions in Jiangdong and their barriers are distinct. From officials to military generals, they all have their own factional interests. In the past, it was a dispute between Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, Zhou Yu was the Lujiang faction, Cheng Pu was the Northern faction, Zhou Yu died of illness, and Cheng Pu was involved in the Sun Ben Rebellion. The old pattern in the army has gone, but new forces have emerged again. Now the dispute between Lu Meng and Lu Xun, Lu Meng belongs to the Northern faction, which is the general that Zhang Zhao praised, while Lu Xun is the Wu Yue faction, and the two have personal grudges. The root cause is in the Battle of Chaisang that year. This time, the Northern faction is in the battle of the Wu Yue faction, and the conflict is intensifying. Sun Quan was worried that the two of them would break up each other, so he personally served as the head coach."

"Then why don't you send other people as the head coaches, such as Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Lu Su and others, and insist on letting these two people with hatred lead troops?" Guan Yu asked in confusion.

"This is a typical manifestation of the current political deterioration in Jiangdong. Sun Quan's two failures in the Western Expedition caused great damage to his authority. There are now calls within Jiangdong that Sun Quan has requested Sun Quan to return the power to Sun Ce and Sun Shao. Some people also advocate that Sun Jing and Sun Yu succeeded to the throne. In order to consolidate power, Sun Quan divided the opposition forces and increasingly condone the confrontation between the Jiangdong factions.

Now the Northern Sect and the Wu Yue Sect are fighting each other. Huang Gai himself is good, but he is the Lujiang Sect. Since Zhou Yu died of illness, Lu Su has not been valued. The Lujiang Sect has lost its power, and Huang Gai has no chance to lead troops.

During this Western Expedition, the Northern Sect and the Wu Yue Sect competed for the position of the leader, and Sun Quan had to use one person each. The Northern Sect introduced Lu Meng and the Wu Yue Sect introduced Lu Xun. The conflict between these two was not only personal grudges, but also represented the struggle between the two factions. In the Battle of Hefei last year, when Sun Quan sent Lu Xun to pick up Lu Meng, he was doomed to the failure of the Jiangdong Army. This is the root of the increasing decline of Jiangdong, and the fierce factional internal struggle."

Yang Yi's words woke everyone up. Zhuge Liang nodded in praise, "Xiao Qi has an insight into the situation in Jiangdong and has a very thorough understanding of the situation in Jiangdong. Therefore, if we can make full use of the internal conflicts in Jiangdong in this battle, we may have a chance of victory."

Everyone was discussing that a soldier reported at the entrance of the tent, "Report to the military advisor, Jingzhou Ganning sent people to send two wooden oxen, just outside the camp."

Zhuge Liang was stunned and then was overjoyed. He was waiting for the wooden ox. Unexpectedly, it was delivered. He immediately stood up and smiled at everyone and said, "Let's continue discussing later. Let's go and see the powerful mountain transportation tools."

Everyone had heard of the wooden ox for a long time, and stood up happily and followed Zhuge Liang to the outside of the tent. At this time, two wooden oxes had been transported into the camp. More than a dozen soldiers were unloading it from the ox cart. Several soldiers surrounded the two sides and whispered. Zhuge Liang led the generals to come, and everyone made way out.

At this time, the messenger who sent the wooden ox came forward to Zhuge Liang and presented a letter: "This is a letter from my governor to Zhuge Military Advisor. The two wooden oxes were specially sent by the request of Yang Zhuge last time."

Zhuge Liang opened the letter and looked at it. His face changed slightly, but he immediately calmed down. He came to the wooden ox as if nothing had happened. He looked carefully and smiled at everyone, "Do you see that? The key to the wooden ox lies in the copper hub below, which is very clever. The key is how to save effort. It is not as good as a river transport on the flat ground, but it is equivalent to two mules in the mountains. It is better to take care of than mules. It does not need to eat grass."

Everyone laughed and surrounded them to take a closer look. At this time, Yang Yi saw Zhuge Liang's expressions strange. He slowly walked up and asked in a low voice: "Military advisor, what happened?"

Zhuge Liang sighed slightly, "Gan Ning clearly rejected our five elephants in the letter. If I was not wrong, Liu Jing would be in Jiangling now. This should be what Liu Jing meant."

Yang Yi was stunned, "Military advisor said that Liu Jing rejected our kindness."

Zhuge Liang shook his head, "They are actually telling me that the four counties in Jingnan will not give them to Jiaozhou."

Although Zhuge Liang told Guan Yu that Liu Jing would not allow them to occupy the four counties of Jingnan, he himself still held a glimmer of hope. However, Liu Jing refused his wish to raise the five elephants, which means that Liu Jing saw through his thoughts and clearly rejected the hint of elephants for Jingnan. Zhuge Liang couldn't help but sigh, and his heart was filled with regret.

More than four warships were marching on the Ganjiang River. These were the 50,000 elite troops led by Lu Xun. They would directly fight the Jiaozhou army head-on. On another battlefield, Lu Meng led tens of troops into Jingnan and cut off the retreat of the Jiaozhou army from behind, while Sun Quan led 20,000 baggage rear troops to support the two armies in the Pengze Lake area.

On the ship, Lu Xun seemed quite worried. He was not worried about himself, but their army must obtain the approval of Jingzhou for this western expedition. He was very passive. Lu Meng's army was unable to enter the Jingzhou River Corridor and delayed advance, which would affect the entire situation of the war.

This made Lu Xun realize that the victory or defeat of this battle was actually controlled by the Han army. Once the Han army wanted to use the Jiaozhou army to weaken Jiangdong, the Jiangdong army would undoubtedly be defeated in this battle. They seemed to be putting their heads into a rope, and they would be tied up by the Han army at any time.

Lu Xun belongs to the Wu Yue faction. The Wu Yue faction strongly opposed the dispatch of troops this time, but as an important figure in the military, Lu Xun supported fighting with the Jiaozhou army. However, Lu Xun advocated direct attack on Jiaozhou from the sea and cut off the roots of the Jiaozhou army north. He proposed this plan during strategic consultation, but was unanimously opposed by all the ministers of martial arts, including Sun Quan, which was also firmly opposed. Perhaps it was because Lu Xun's idea was risky and incredible, or perhaps it was because the Jiangdong Navy had no experience in navigating, or it might have been a long-distance raid, and the Jiangdong Army's logistics could not be guaranteed.

But Lu Xun felt that the real reason was that they lacked a spirit of adventure, especially Sun Quan, who lacked a courage to put him in the death, which disappointed Lu Xun. Just before he went to war, he had a brief conversation with the patriarch Lu Jing. The patriarch actually expressed his regret for supporting Sun Quan to rise to power, and expressed the idea that Sun Ce Chief Sun Shao should succeed the throne. Lu Xun also had the same idea. Perhaps if he had changed to the lord of Jiangdong, they would not be as passive as they are today.

“It’s arrived”

The lookout soldier on the mast shouted loudly, interrupting Lu Xun's thoughts. His thug curtain blocked the dazzling sunlight. He saw a faint outline of a city appearing in the distance, where Nanchang County was, and the fleet gradually slowed down.

Lu Xun had already obtained information in the past, and the Jiaozhou army had evacuated Nanchang County and was stationed in Xinwu County, 160 miles away. There were no soldiers or soldiers in Nanchang County, which made Lu Xun very confused. This meant that Nanchang County was just a transit station, and they had to continue to advance westward and attack Xinwu County.
Chapter completed!