Chapter 478 Sun Ce Sends Out Troops
After Liu Bei was defeated in Qunin County, he quickly returned to Baidi City.
Lu Xun led his army to follow without hesitation and attacked Baidi City.
Faced with Lu Xun's power, although Liu Bei wanted to hold on and resist, the appearance of a large number of thunder chariots and navy made it extremely difficult to defend Baidi City.
Especially after the Xinli army was defeated and the morale of his subordinates was low, the loss of Baidi City was almost inevitable.
Knowing that the situation was hopeless, Liu Bei could not help but sigh again and led his troops to retreat towards Yiling.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Lu Xun did not underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. Instead, he took over Baidi City, left Pang De to garrison with 30,000 elite troops, and then led the army back to Ba County to assist Zhang He in consulting the remaining bandits.
After all, Quren County is not a strategic location and is difficult to defend for a long time. Only by capturing Baidi City can the enemy be truly kept out of Yizhou.
The reason why they did not pursue was, on the one hand, because the army under Lu Xun was running out of strength.
The logistical and food supply for an army of hundreds of thousands is more difficult than that of Pang De's army of 30,000.
If the fighting continues, logistics will be difficult to guarantee and the country will be in danger of collapse.
Besides, Yizhou was still unstable at that time, and it was not a good time to attack Jingzhou.
Tian Ze was extremely satisfied with Lu Xun's performance before and after this battle.
Almost every order he gave hit the nail on the head and was never wrong, and his strategic thinking was completely consistent with Tian Ze's. He was definitely the best choice to become the general in the future.
The news of Liu Bei's defeat quickly spread throughout the world.
After learning about this, the idea of resistance from the local warlords in Yizhou who had been resisting stubbornly suddenly disappeared. Even the most stubborn ones did not dare to fight to the death, which relieved a lot of pressure on Zhang He.
After assisting Zhang He in clearing out the remnants of the enemy in Ba County, Tian Ze and Lu Xun left behind 50,000 reserves and led the remaining elite troops quickly northward to Chang'an.
The importance of Sili is greater than that of Yizhou and no risk can be tolerated.
Tian Ze didn't dare to keep Sili's troops at a relatively small level for a long time.
The impact of this battle went far beyond this. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, who were fighting the Qi army in the Central Plains, were both shocked when they heard the news.
Of course, the one with the most explosive mentality was not them, but Sun Ce who was in Jiangdong.
The wine glass in his hand fell to the ground with a "bang", and the wine splashed on the corner of Sun Ce's robe, but he was completely unaware.
"How is this possible? How could Tian Ze take Yizhou!" Sun Ce's face was full of disbelief.
Zhou Yu sighed deeply, his expression full of regret and self-blame: "We were careless. We didn't expect Zhang Lu to have defected to Tian Ze so early. He just put on a show for us."
"I didn't expect the Yizhou troops to be so weak, and their internal forces had already been infiltrated and riddled with holes."
A wise man does not just look at the surface of things.
On the surface, the success of the Qi army in the war in Yizhou seemed to be due to the gap in hard power, but Zhou Yu saw through the various factors hidden behind it very clearly.
Even though he was resourceful, he never expected that Yizhou would fall into Tian Ze's hands so quickly.
Because Yizhou's natural defenses were not just empty talk. If he were in Tianze's position, it would be hard to imagine that he could snatch Yizhou from Liu Bei in just two months.
You know, the relationship between Liu Fan and Liu Bei was very good, and they even allowed Liu Bei to station troops in Yizhou.
As Zhou Yu anticipated, Tian Ze's attack on Yizhou would most likely be blocked outside Hanzhong, and the two sides would be caught in a tug-of-war.
At worst, even if Tian Ze occupied Hanzhong, he would only be in a long-term confrontation with Liu Bei and Liu Fan.
The worst case scenario would be a fight with Liu Bei and Liu Fan within Yizhou.
After all, both geographical advantages and human harmony favored Liu Bei and Liu Fan, and the situation and logistical constraints prevented Tian Ze from deploying troops on a large scale. How could he take Yizhou? As a result, he never expected that more than 200,000 Yizhou soldiers would surrender directly after being defeated so easily.
Liu Bei's army of more than 100,000 was blocked in a small place like Quren County. They were driven out before they could even enter the heart of Yizhou.
When Zhou Yu first heard the news, he thought that the two Lius were playing him.
But after truly understanding the cause and effect, Zhou Yu realized his negligence.
The original plan, which was to have Liu Bei consume Tian Ze in Yizhou, and Cao Yuan resist Tian Ze in the Central Plains, while their side accumulated strength and reaped the benefits, was completely shattered by this news.
You know, the natural barriers of the Yangtze River are mostly located in the north!
Tian Ze led his army downstream from Yizhou to attack Jingzhou and Yangzhou, but this natural barrier did not play much of a role.
They had been sitting on the Diaoyutai and could no longer sit idly by, so they could only join Liu Bei in resisting Tian Ze.
Zhou Yu's plan to divide the world into three parts was completely shattered.
Sun Ce took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down: "Gongjin, what good plan do you have?"
Zhou Yu frowned, pondered for a moment and then said slowly: "Now the situation has changed suddenly, we have to re-examine the balance of forces among all parties."
"Although the final outcome of the battle in the Central Plains has not yet been decided, it is an established fact that Tian Ze has taken Yizhou, and the natural barrier of the Yangtze River may no longer exist."
"We must strengthen our alliance with Liu Bei, prepare for the direction of Yizhou, and assist Liu Bei in garrisoning Jingzhou."
"At the same time, we must quickly send troops to support Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. We cannot let them be defeated too quickly or too miserably. We must buy time for the garrison of Jingzhou!"
It was a different time at that time. Originally, Zhou Yu was not concerned about the war between Cao and Yuan in the Central Plains.
Whether they win or lose, it will be beneficial to them, and it is only a matter of time before the Central Plains is taken over by Tian Ze, so there is no need to waste Jiangdong's military strength for this.
But now things have changed.
Although Zhou Yu knew that it would take at least two years to pacify Tian Ze after he took Yizhou, he would not advance eastward in the short term.
But who can guarantee it?
As long as the Central Plains is lost, Tian Ze will definitely turn his attention to Jingzhou and Yangzhou first.
The garrisons in Jingzhou and Yangzhou would require sufficient time. Moreover, the strategy of dividing the world into three parts had now completely failed. If Jiangdong wanted to survive, it could only renew its alliance with Cao and Yuan.
"After so many twists and turns, we have finally come to this point?" Sun Ce said with a slightly bitter look on his face.
It was indeed his wish to send troops to the Central Plains, but due to the current situation in Jiangdong, he had to give up this idea.
But now, we still have to send troops.
Unfortunately, he had missed the best opportunity to send troops. Moreover, if he sent troops at this time, the powerful families in Jiangdong would also be extremely opposed.
He made a mistake in this decision.
However, he was not too upset about this. After all, who could have thought that Tian Ze would take over Yizhou so quickly.
After calming down a bit, Sun Ce regained his fighting spirit: "Gongjin, prepare 100,000 naval forces. We will immediately head north to join forces with Cao and Yuan, and fight Tian Ze!"
"promise!"
(End of this chapter)
