Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 681 Frontier Defense
Jingzhou, Wuchang.

It was drizzling, and the air was filled with a faint mist.On the bank of the Yangtze River, Sun Quan discussed with Lu Xun, Zhu Ran and other Soochow generals about the defense of the Yangtze River defense line.

Since the defeat of Xiangyang, Sun Quan did not return to the capital Jianye, but stationed in the old capital Wuchang, and asked the prince Sun Deng to supervise Jianye and coordinate Jiangdong government affairs.

Because Sun Quan knew very well that after he failed to backstab the Shu Han, he lost his soldiers and generals.In addition, the Shu Han has the idea of ​​​​dominating the world, and there is a high probability that they will send troops to crusade against themselves to avenge Jingzhou and Yiling.

Bu Zhi looked worried, and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Shu builds a big ship upstream, and its wood is full of rivers. It is well known that it wants to offend me. Besides, Shu owns the land in the north of Jing, and it will offend me in many ways. , Now that the battle has been revealed, it is appropriate to prepare for it."

"Exactly!" Zhu Ran, the guard of Jiangling, was also worried, and said, "Your Majesty, it is obvious that Deng Ai is stationed in the middle of the mountain to train the navy. It is obvious that he went south. In terms of the current situation, the harm of Shu is far greater than that of Wei. The troops on the Jiangjiang River are not strong enough, and your Majesty needs to strengthen it one or two times to prepare for foreign invasion by bandits."

Soochow's fear of the Shu Han stems from the deep influence of geography.The foundation of Soochow's founding lies in the defense line of the Yangtze River, but the defense line of the Yangtze River is facing the sea in the east, blocking the dangers in the west, and the Yangtze River controls its district.The sea and the gorge are the support for the two ends of the defense line, and these two ends correspond to Cao Wei and Shu Han respectively.

As far as the strength of Cao Wei's navy is concerned, it is not enough to launch a large-scale attack from the sea, so the eastern end is stable.However, its western end may not be secure. The winding Wushan Mountains connect to Daba Mountain in the north, separating Jingxiang and Bashu.

The Yangtze River flows out from the Three Gorges, galloping endlessly.Its terrain is adjacent to the suburbs, with heavy mountains and dangerous land, and there is no wide road on the land; the river is dangerous and the current is fast, and the water is difficult to shake.Therefore, among the high mountains, large troops cannot pass through and deploy quickly, so it is difficult for the Bashu army to attack Wu by land.

However, due to the well-preserved vegetation during the Three Kingdoms period, there were not many dangerous shoals in the river. Huotang Gorge only had Qutang and Huanglong Ertan, Wu Gorge only had Xinbeng and Shimen, and Xiling Gorge did not have many dangerous shoals.Generally speaking, the waterway is relatively convenient, which is convenient for the smooth transportation of the army.

Judging from the previous battle of Yiling, the Shu Han army, which lacked a sharp navy, was able to approach Yidao, which shows that it has great benefits.Whenever Lao Liu conquered the way of Yi, the vast Jingnan will be revealed before the advance of the Shu Han soldiers, and they can drive in.

Looking at the Western Jin Dynasty's extermination of Wu in history, Wang Jun, who had a large-scale navy, went directly down the river, ignoring the defense line in the western section of the Yangtze River, and annihilated Wu in one fell swoop.

Therefore, in the early days of Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, who had a strategic vision, had a deep understanding of the interests of Bashu, and strongly advocated entering Bashu from the west, all based on the Yangtze River defense line, and confronted Cao Wei across the river.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the support of the western end of Soochow's Yangtze River defense line is actually the Shu Han.If the Shuhan is safe, the western end of the river defense will be stable. If the Shuhan is dead, the gorge will be difficult to guard, and the defense line will lose its support in the west.For river defense, without a point of support, a solid defense system cannot be formed.

Otherwise, it would not be possible. During the Chiwu period in history, there were rumors that Shuda was building a boat and was preparing to attack Wu.As a result, people in the imperial court were panicked, and even Bulu and other generals spoke up one after another, becoming frightened birds. It can be seen that Soochow was extremely worried and cautious about the issue of the western defense line.

Now that the Shu Han and Soochow have turned against each other, it means that a huge problem has been exposed in the defense line of the Yangtze River, and a large army must be mobilized to garrison in Yidao to prepare for the Shu Han's army coming east.

Of course, if this is the only point, it's fine, it won't make Jiangling guard Zhu Ran so nervous.But after the Shu Han conquered Jingbei, danger was formed north of the Yangtze River in Soochow, and Jiangling City in Nanjun was the first to bear the brunt.

As for the importance of Jiangling, there is no need to talk about it. Simply put, Jiangling is the most important part of the defense line of the Yangtze River in the Jianghan area. Cao Wei fought around Jiangling in many wars against Wu. After Jiangling was lost, Soochow controlled it. Jingnan will lose its barrier, and Cao Wei can cross the Yangtze River and drive straight in.

And once the Shu Han conquered Jiangling and crossed the Yangtze River, they would cooperate with the Bashu army in the west to break through the Yidao in the west, and they would basically be able to occupy Jingnan completely.To put it another way, if the Shu Han took the lead in conquering Yi Dao, it would naturally have little effect as a defense against Jiangling City to the north of the Yangtze River.

Sun Quan frowned and said, "I am aware of the current situation. Therefore, I dispatched troops from Jingzhou and Yangzhou for reinforcements, gathered in Le Township, and was led by the Great General. I sit in Wuchang and lead [-] troops. It's for maneuvering. I don't know how the general wants to prepare for the enemy?"

Hearing this, Lu Xun cupped his hands slightly, and said: "There is no other vital point today, but in the two cities of Yidao and Jiangling. General Hussars (Bu Zhi) guards the Yidao area with ten thousand people, and the general (Zhuge Jin) ten thousand people The police stationed, the generals of chariots and cavalry stationed ten thousand people in the Jiangling area. I led [-] troops to station in Le Township, to monitor the movements of the Shu army, and then divide the troops to occupy them."

In this battle, Soochow also took out the family books at the bottom of the box. Except for the riverside army defending Chaohu Lake, the army from Jing, Jiao, and Yangzhou had already been recruited.Lu Xun commanded 8 people to defend Yiling in the west and Jiangling City in the north.Sun Quan was stationed in Wuchang, with 10 troops as a reserve force, a total of [-] people.

Moreover, Sun Quan's arrangement basically used the power of the four major families stationed in Jingzhou.For example, Lu Xun led Jingzhou and stationed in Wuchang, Bulu stationed in Xiling, Zhu Ran stationed in Jiangling, and Zhuge Jin stationed in Public Security.They have their own garrisons, their fathers die and their children are relatively stable, and they are often willing to fight for the country for their own interests.

For example, since Lu Meng's death, Zhu Ran's family has been stationed in Jiangling. For his own benefit, in the face of Cao Wei's attack, Zhu Ran has held on to Jiangling City for half a year.

It can be seen that Sun Quan almost poured out his country to guard against the attack of the Shu Han this time, taking into account all aspects of the arrangement.

As for the Jiaozhou area in the south, sorry.Lu Xun and Sun Quan really never thought that the enemy would attack from Nanzhong.After all, the distance is far away, and there are few wars, and if wars happen, it is basically only a small number of troops to harass.

Hearing what Lu Xun said, everyone felt a little calmer.However, Bu Zhi, the general guard of Xiling, may be the psychological shadow of being defeated by Chen Dao's three hundred soldiers, and he is still a little worried about the arrangement. When the general comes to help, it is better to pile up stones to prevent the flow, or to ask for machinery to prevent changes."

Lu Xun shook his head and suggested, "What the Hushi general said is so difficult. A certain man has been stationed in Xiling for many years, and he knows how this place is. If you want to pile up rocks in the river, it is beyond human power. You might as well build a city. To prevent the bandit army from going east. Store more food and grass in case the Shu people will besieged for a long time."

Before and after the Battle of Yiling, Lu Xun stayed in Xiling for many years. It was not until Sun Quan moved his capital to Wuchang that he moved the town from Xiling to Wuchang.And Bu Zhi also took over Lu Xun's position at that time and stationed in the Xiling theater in the form of a family.

As for Lu Xun asking Xiling to store more grain, he also had experience in this regard.At the beginning of the battle of Yiling, Lu Xun expected that Liu Bei might not be able to defeat Liu Bei in foot combat, so he built cities, stockpiled food and grass, and prepared for a protracted war.

This is also the reason why Lao Liu has been blocked in Yidao for so long and still can't conquer it. The city is deep and the food is sufficient, how can he overcome it.Today, Lu Xun also borrowed the experience of resisting the enemy last time, and added some fine-tuning to arrange the defense line.

"You can follow Lu Qing's words." Sun Quan urged.

"Promise!" Bu Zhi suppressed the worry in his heart, and clapped his hands in response.

Sun Quan grabbed his beard and asked, "Do you have any other opinions?"

Lu Xun pondered for a while, and said: "My Majesty, in the past Wei people sent Sima Shi into Wu, saying that our Great Wu would help their soldiers. Now that our Great Wu is in danger, it is better to send an envoy to say Wei, and order them to send troops to harass the border of the Shu people and restrain their soldiers. , in order to reduce the pressure on our army.”

Although Lu Xun was not afraid in front of the generals, he knew in his heart that this battle was not easy to fight.After the defeat of Yiling, the Shu army was not so easy to be fooled again.And this time Jiangbei also has the direction of the Shu army's advance, so it cannot fight the Shu army in the original method.

"Can!"

Sun Quan nodded and asked Cao Wei for help. He also had the same idea. There is no shame in shaking someone if he can't beat him.

(End of this chapter)