At the same time when the Han army attacked Yuzhang County and expelled the Jiaozhou forces, Cao Cao led an army of 30,000 to Hefei. At this point, the Cao army in Hefei had reached 80,000, and the sword was aimed directly at Jiangdong.

Zhenjiang Shuangque, two tall buildings on the north bank of Ruxukou to enjoy the scenery of the Yangtze River. The building is five meters high. Standing on the que platform, you can see the magnificent waves of the Yangtze River. Shuangque was built after the Battle of Hefei the previous year. Cao Cao specially named the Shuangque Wenyuan Shuangque to commend Zhang Liao's achievements in defeating the Jiangdong Army. However, Zhang Liao did not dare to accept it, and quietly changed the Shuangque to Zhenjiang Shuangque.

At this time, on the Shuangque High Platform, Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the vast river in front of him, with a lot of thoughts in his heart. After receiving Sun Ben's secret letter of help, Cao Cao resolutely decided to rush to Hefei. He had realized that Jiangdong was about to be in chaos and this would be his opportunity to unify Jiangdong.

Although Cao Cao had signed a ceasefire agreement with Liu Jing, it did not mean that Cao's army would be fully admitted to the warehouse and released to Ma Nanshan. Cao's army still had to train and look for opportunities to carry out war training. Moreover, this year, the Central Plains and Hebei had a bumper harvest, sufficient food, and national strength was restored to a certain extent. This gave Cao Cao great confidence that even if he no longer fought with the Han army, they could still fight with the Jiangdong army and the northern nomadic peoples.

For Cao Cao, the strategic importance of Jiangdong is self-evident. Once he takes Jiangdong, he will gain the benefits of the navy and can compete with the Jingzhou navy, which will reverse the biggest shortcomings of Cao's army. However, Cao Cao also knew in his heart that it was not so easy to destroy Jiangdong.

It was late autumn, and the river wind was strong and the cold was intoxicating. The military flags at the four corners of Quetai blew under the wind. Cao Zhang, the second son who followed his father south, stepped forward and advised: "Father, the river wind is cold, let's go back to the camp."

The reason why Cao Zhang followed Cao's army south this time was because Cao Zhang's father-in-law was Sun Ben. Cao Cao hoped that his son would participate in exerting influence on Sun Ben. Cao Cao smiled with his hands behind his back and said, "The river makes people broaden their minds, and all worries are forgotten. Do you guys feel this way."

There were few responses, only the voices of a few generals. Cao Cao was slightly surprised. He turned around and looked at the counselors. He saw that more than a dozen counselors led by Cheng Yu were trembling all over, pale faces and blue lips, which were obviously not as cold as the Jiang Feng. Cao Cao immediately apologized: "The Jiang Feng is cold, everyone should go down."

Everyone was relieved and went down to Quetai. Cao Cao stared at the Yangtze River for a moment, turned around and walked down to Quetai, and returned to the military city located at Ruxukou.

Cao Cao's 80,000 troops were stationed in two places, one in Hefei City, with 30,000 troops garrisons and the other in Ruxukou, with 50,000 troops garrisons. The circumference of Ruxukou Military City was about twelve miles long. It was built by Zhang Liao the previous year. It is a city completely used for garrisons. The barracks and warehouses in the city are all brick and stone structures, with good fire protection functions. Outside the east gate of the city is a training ground covering an area of ​​thousands of acres, which can be carried out for cavalry training. There is also a school ground covering an area of ​​500 acres in the city for formation training.

Before Cao Cao arrived, the entire Southeast army was commanded by Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao was thus named General Zhendong. When he returned to the lobby, Zhang Liao ordered people to provide ginger soup to all the counselors to relieve the cold. Cao Cao took a sip of ginger soup and pondered for a moment and asked, "There is news in Jingzhou."

Zhang Liao set up a secret intelligence point in Pengze County. A spy specifically spyed on Pengze Lake. Zhang Liao immediately reported: "I just received a pigeon letter from Pengze County this morning. The Jiangdong fleet has set off and returned. It is estimated that the fleet will pass through Ruxukou in five days."

"What about the news about the Han army?" Cao Cao asked again.

Zhang Liao knew Cao Cao very well and knew that he was actually concerned about Liu Jing's news. He smiled and said, "Liu Jing should be in Chaisang now. I heard that the envoys from Jiangdong and Jiaozhou went to Chaisang at the same time a few days ago. Now the Jingzhou navy is moving troops to Chaisang."

Cao Cao nodded and sighed, "This is called a fight between cranes and clams. The fisherman gained the profit. Jiangdong and Jiaozhou fought to the death for Yuzhang County, but in the end they were in vain. Liu Jing was given a free gift. If I was not wrong, this was a series of condoms set up by Liu Jing, and Sun Quan and Liu Bei both got into condoms."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao found that Cheng Yu wanted to speak but stopped, so he asked with a smile: "What does Zhongde want to say?"

Cheng Yu put down the ginger soup bowl and bowed and said, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, I'm considering that for Liu Jing, the important things may not be Yuzhang and Poyang County, but Lujiang County in Jiangbei."

Cao Cao frowned, "Why did Zhongde say this?"

"It's very simple. If Liu Jing wants to take this opportunity to completely destroy Jiangdong, it is necessary to seize Yuzhang and Poyang County. However, judging from the description in Sun Ben's letter and Liu Jing's current military deployment, the Han army did not intend to destroy Jiangdong, but wanted to split Jiangdong and completely weaken Jiangdong. From a strategic perspective, retaining Jiangdong is conducive to restraining the Xuzhou front line. More importantly, destroying Jiangdong now will cause the Han army to fall into a quagmire and be difficult to extricate itself. It can only be said that the time is not yet ripe. In this way, the importance of Yuzhang County and Panyang County will not be demonstrated. On the contrary, seizing Lujiang County will directly threaten Hefei. It has much more strategic significance. Which one is more important, I think Liu Jing knows very well in his heart."

Everyone looked at each other, all thinking that Cheng Yu's words were incredible, but reasonable. At this time, Zhang Liao clasped his fists and said, "Prime Minister, what Mr. Cheng said was very true. When Liu Jing sent Gan Ning to attack Hefei, Gan Ning once said that he would come back sooner or later. Bei Zhi thought this was not Gan Ning's casual statement, but revealed Liu Jing's ambition to seize Hefei. The Han army would probably use this opportunity to exchange Yuzhang County and Poyang County for Lujiang County."

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and said, "What Zhongde said is reasonable, Wen Yuan said it well, so what should we do to seize Lujiang County before the Han army?"

At this time, Liu Ye stood up and said, "Prime Minister, I think it's just speculation now. Although Military Secretary Cheng's words are very insightful, if I send troops to Lujiang for a guess, I think it's inappropriate, but instead give Liu Jing an excuse to attack Lujiang. Now our attention should still be focused on Jiangdong and not be easily distracted."

Cheng Yu explained: "Zhengbu Liu said it reasonably. The situation in Jiangdong is subtle now, so we should plan and then move. Now we should focus on quiet observation and not use rash weapons."

Everyone expressed their opinions, and there were whispers in the lobby. At this moment, a guard outside the hall reported: "I report to the Prime Minister, there is a messenger outside to deliver the message, saying that there is emergency information from Pengze County."

Zhang Liao hurriedly said: "This must be the pigeon letter from Pengze County, it should be news from the Han army."

Cao Cao nodded, "Come on"

After a moment, a guard quickly walked to the lobby, knelt down on one knee, and presented a red pigeon letter. The red signified that the situation was urgent or serious. A guard took the pigeon letter and handed it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao slowly unfolded the letter on the table. He squinted his eyes and looked at it with helplessness in his eyes. He smiled bitterly and said to everyone: "It's true that Liu Jing led the Jingzhou navy to defeat Guan Yu's army north of Nanchang County, and Guan Yu's 20,000 troops were wiped out."

This news shocked the house. Although everyone had expected it, it was still unacceptable for a moment. After a while, Cheng Yu sighed and said, "Now, Jiangdong will be more lively."

...

The protagonist of this Jiangdong Rebellion was undoubtedly Sun Ben. In order to stabilize the situation in Jiangdong, Sun Quan did not kill all the people, which gave Sun Ben a chance to turn things around. With the help of He Qi's power, Sun Ben finally gained a firm foothold in Kuaiji County.

Taking advantage of Sun Quan's Western Expedition, Sun Ben visited all parts of Jiangdong and invited many Jiangdong elders who supported him to Kuaiji County, including Zhu Zhi, Han Dang, Cheng Pu and other elders.

Sun Ben recruited troops and made weapons at the same time. In just one month, he recruited more than 10,000 people. With He Qi's 20,000 troops, their troops reached 30,000.

Although they had the conditions to raise troops, the best time had not come yet. In the inner hall, Sun Benzheng and He Qi, Zhu Zhi, Chen Jiao and others discussed the uprising. Chen Jiao was sent by Cao Cao to assist Sun Ben. During the last rebellion of Sun Ben, Chen Jiao was the behind-the-scenes planner. Unfortunately, he was arrested and later replaced by Cao Cao. This time, Cao Cao sent him to serve as Cao Cao's plenipotent representative.

Chen Jiao has learned from the lessons of the last failure and said to everyone: "The last time we failed was because we had no territory and army. This time we had Kuaiji County and our own army. But I think that Kuaiji County alone is not enough, and the number of 30,000 troops is too small. We should seek Wu County. Kuaiji and Wu County are in a single area, so we occupy half of Jiangdong."

Sun Ben pondered for a moment and said, "Sun Shao has received support from the Sun family and is also ready to replace Sun Quan. Now I don't know how they are going. Can we use the excuse of joining forces with Sun Shao, or in turn, to quell the Sun Shao's rebellion and we will enter Wujun."

Speaking of this, Sun Ben looked at Zhu Zhi. He had lived in Wu County for a long time and knew the situation in Wu County. Zhu Zhi was a veteran of Jiangdong. He was nearly 60 years old this year and had a deep experience in officialdom. He understood Sun Ben's meaning and gently stroked his white beard and smiled: "Sun Shao was only seventeen years old and had not yet mastered his talent. How could he have the courage to stand up against Sun Quan? Sun Shao was just a puppet. The real person behind the scenes was Sun Jing and his son. However, Sun Jing was old and lived in simplicity. There were rumors that he had passed away. The truth was unknown. But secondly, his descendants Sun Yu were ambitious and thought he was talented and could replace Sun Quan. If I was not wrong, Sun Yu was the mastermind of Wu County's uprising."

At this time, He Qi, who had been silent, spoke: "Sun Quan never allowed the Sun family's children to take charge of military power. Although Sun Yu was named General Fenwei, he was only famous. However, the Wu County Chief Commander Gongsun Yang was once the general of Sun Jing, and he should be loyal to Sun Yu, so I think Sun Yu has mastered the military power of Wu County."

"Can General He tell me how many troops there are in Wujun?" Chen Jiao asked again.

He Qi smiled and said, "The Wu County army has 15,000 people, of which Gongsun Yang has 10,000 troops. In addition, Huang Gai trained the militia in Wu County and had 5,000 militia troops. As far as I know, Huang Gai had had a feud with Gongsun Yang for food supply, so Huang Gai often went to Piling County to farm. He also served as the Piling Diannong School Captain. If Sun Yu raised an army in Wu County, Huang Gai would not follow him."

Chen Jiao's eyes became anxious and said quickly: "If we can contact Huang Gai and ask Huang Gai to jointly send troops to suppress Sun Shao's rebellion, will Huang Gai agree?"

"I don't know this, but I can ask Han Dang to convince Huang Gai. After all, Huang Gai was also excluded due to factional issues and was neglected by Sun Quan. We can give it a try."
Chapter completed!