For a twenty-one-year-old young man who had received mainly Confucian education, Sun Quan's problem was obviously too difficult.
Sun Deng pondered for a long time, then bowed and said, "Father, I really don't know how to attack the city when it is flooded. I hope you will forgive me."
Sun Quan stroked his beard with a smile and said, "It's okay. I am satisfied with what Zi Gao said. If you don't know, you can go and ask the generals in the army for advice. When the Wu navy arrives near Xiangyang, I will come and ask you again."
"Thank you, father." Sun Deng bowed and led the four guests behind him to retreat, walked down the highest floor of the King of Wu's ship, and returned to his own separate cabin.
Although the Wu Wang Louchuan was the largest, most luxurious, and most magnificent of the army's ships, it actually served as Sun Quan's command center. In addition to the busy officers who joined the army and worked on the ship, there were also many soldiers who accompanied and protected the ship.
It was already a blessing to be able to reserve a separate room for Sun Deng, the crown prince.
The ship sailed upstream along the Han River, swaying gently with the waves. Through the porthole, one could see a lot of mud in the water of the Han River, and from time to time one could see some broken wood wrapped by the current.
This is the flood. The natural disaster that Wei encountered turned into a favorable opportunity for Wu to raise troops. The people's livelihood and the people will always be ranked behind the king's hegemony.
Sun Deng sat down first, and four officials followed him in. Zhuge Ke, who was at the end, closed the cabin door. As soon as he sat down, he bowed to Sun Deng and said:
"Alas, when the Supreme asked the Crown Prince a question just now, I wanted to remind the Crown Prince, but I never found the chance." Zhuge Ke was pale and fat, with not much beard, but his voice was loud. As soon as he spoke, it was a bit deafening in the narrow cabin.
"Yuanxun, please keep your voice down. I'm almost deafened by you." Zhang Xiu on the side frowned slightly.
"Then I'll keep my voice down." Zhuge Ke still had a smile on his face, and he bowed to Sun Deng and said, "Your Highness, don't bother asking those generals. I can answer your questions myself."
Sun Deng was the crown prince of Wu, and naturally he was the apple of the eye in the eyes of the current King of Wu, Sun Quan. The four guests chosen by Sun Quan for him were Zhuge Ke, son of the Left General Zhuge Jin, Zhang Xiu, son of the Suiyuan General Zhang Zhao, Gu Tan, grandson of the Prime Minister Gu Yong, and Chen Biao, son of the Lieutenant General Chen Wu. They were all from famous families and older than Sun Deng.
This luxurious standard of configuration also directly demonstrated to the officials of Eastern Wu the stability of Sun Deng's position as the crown prince.
Sun Deng was a humble and polite man. After hearing Zhuge Ke's words, he bowed and asked, "Brother Yuanxun, please explain to me how to attack the city in the flood?"
When Sun Ce and Sun Quan were recruiting talents in Jiangdong, besides conscripting, the most common way was to use the "guest" route. Condescending to make friends was the norm.
Although Sun Deng always called them brothers, they all knew what was going on.
Zhuge Ke responded by clasping his hands, "There are many records of attacking cities with water in history books. I will not mention the distant past, but I will give you two recent examples."
"Brother Yuanxun, please speak."
"Since water attacks are used to attack cities, they must be related to the city walls." Zhuge Ke said, "The city walls are all built with rammed earth and require long-term repair. If there is a sudden rainstorm or flood, the rammed earth will gradually become soft and collapse."
"Prince, do you know Lü Bu, also known as Lü Fengxian, during the late Han Dynasty? He was defeated by Cao Mengde at Xiapi, Xuzhou. It was because Cao Mengde led the nearby Yishui and Sishui rivers to flood the city, causing the city walls to collapse. That's how he was able to capture Lü Fengxian."
Sun Deng heard of this battle example for the first time: "Borrowing the water from two great rivers to flood a city, is there such a military strategy in the world?"
Zhuge Ke stroked his chest and smiled, "Cao Mengde is indeed a brave warrior, but when he faced the Supreme's army at Chibi and Ruxu, he was always powerless. The Supreme is still better."
"In addition to Cao Mengde, another person who used water to attack the city was Guan Yu."
Sun Deng nodded and said, "I know about this. Many years ago, my father took me to a banquet in Jianye City. I also met Yu Jin and Yu Wen Ze who surrendered."
Zhuge Ke said: "No matter whether the water is big or small, our great Wu navy will block the Han River from north to south. So there are ways to attack big water and small water."
Sun Deng looked even more humble, bowed his head and asked, "I hope Brother Yuanxun can give me some advice."
"Your Highness, you are too polite. What do you mean by guidance? These are just some tricks in military strategy that can be easily exposed." Zhuge Ke was quite pleased with himself. He even looked at the three people in the cabin one by one:
"If the water is high, we can attack Xiangyang by boat. If the water is low, we can build a weir outside the city to intercept the flow and divert water to Xiangyang to flood the city!"
Zhang Xiu chuckled, "It's easy for Yuanxun to say that. You're also talking about building dams to hold back the water. There are floods everywhere. How are you going to build dams? And how are you going to divert the water to Xiangyang?"
"I think that rather than asking how to attack a city, Your Majesty is asking how to choose the right time to attack a city! As for the matter of attacking a city, the generals will do it. Why should Your Majesty worry about it?"
"This," Zhuge Ke was choked by Zhang Xiu's words, but he was not annoyed: "I just talked to the prince about how to attack. As for the specific actions, we still have to go to the outskirts of Xiangyang City, observe the actual situation and do our best." "Talking about war on paper." Zhang Xiu laughed again.
Zhuge Ke's eyes narrowed and he also laughed: "Talking about war on paper is fun, so why not come and talk about it, Shusi, what is the right time to use it?"
None of them had ever led troops, and although there was some truth in their words, Sun Deng now knew that his father's words were correct. When it came to military matters, he had to consult a real general.
"Okay, don't dwell on this anymore." Sun Deng quickly advised, "This afternoon, I will take a boat to General Suinan's ship to ask. Then the four of you will come with me and listen to what General Quan has to say."
"Yes."
"Just follow the prince's words."
The four of them agreed.
……
The Wei army arrived at Tuyin City in Youbeiping County on August 23, and Cao Rui led 4,000 cavalry south that day, entrusting all military affairs to former general Man Chong.
For Man Chong, the things in his hands were like a mess and he had to do them one by one.
The first step was to award rewards to the soldiers in the army.
For the soldiers of Youzhou and Jizhou, it was easy to receive rewards, as they had a familiar system to use. But for the Hu people's light cavalry of the Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Xiongnu tribes, it was more troublesome.
Man Chong and his subordinates insisted on distributing the rewards to every Hu cavalryman who followed the expedition. The leaders of each tribe insisted that Man Chong give the rewards to them, and then they would pass them on to the cavalrymen in the tribe.
Given the level of organization of these Hu people, they were far from being able to take back the rewards that had already been awarded from the cavalry in their own tribe. If they wanted to enrich themselves, they could only intercept them.
Man Chong naturally disagreed.
You followed the Emperor of Wei to fight, and the court has given you leaders rewards. Why do you still want to touch the money of your cavalry? Who knows if you will share the copper coins and cloth with the cavalry after taking them?
Who knows, after receiving the full reward from the Wei Dynasty, he would tell the cavalry in his clan and say that the Wei Dynasty was stingy!
The issue of issuing rewards took two days of delay. In the end, Man Chong had to execute the most violent Wuhuan leader. Only then did the Hu people calm down and accept the court's assignment.
The rewards received by the 16,000 Hu cavalry were finally awarded personally by the cavalrymen of Sun Li's unit in the central army, and did not pass through the hands of the leaders of the various tribes.
In addition to the rewards, the next thing was to count the pensions, and the military officers under the former general of Wei, Man Chong, would send letters to the government offices and county offices of each county and prefecture to inform them of the native places, merits, and the pensions they deserved of the soldiers who died in the battle.
It has always been like this: fighting is easy, but what needs to be done after the war is more complicated.
The newly appointed General Duan Zhao, who was to guard Youbeiping, was to be stationed there. Man Chong spent time selecting 4,000 soldiers from the prefectures and counties for him. Man Chong also personally gave Duan Zhao instructions and summoned Tian Yu to teach him the experience of being an official and a general in the frontier.
There were many more trivial matters regarding food and logistics. After they were completed one by one, it was already September 8th when Man Chong set out from Youbeiping and arrived outside Quanzhou City.
At this time, in addition to the remaining 10,000 cavalry in the central army, Man Chong's army also had 3,000 light cavalry from the Xiongnu tribe, 2,000 light cavalry from the Xianbei Kebinen tribe, and 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry who came from Liaodong.
The 10,000-strong Liaodong army, a mixture of cavalry and infantry, were the most elite troops selected from Gongsun Yuan's 50,000 Liaodong troops by Man Chong, Liu Ye and others in Xiangping. This can also be regarded as one of the achievements of this trip.
According to the emperor himself, if Yingzhou belonged to the Wei Dynasty but no troops were sent, how could it be considered the territory of the Wei Dynasty?
The Great Wei Dynasty had always been generous to surrendered generals. These 10,000 Liaodong soldiers were temporarily led by Bei Yan and Bei Hongyi, who surrendered to the Great Wei and were granted the title of General Fengyi.
To be honest, when such a great favor fell on Bei Yan's head, even Bei Yan himself could not believe it. Compared with the bitter cold land of Liaodong and the land of Henan in the Wei Dynasty, which one is better or worse, it is obvious at a glance. If he let go of the official position that was delivered to his door, he would be a fool, so he readily accepted it.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to serve as an official at the feet of the emperor?
Cao Rui, Man Chong and others were not afraid. They were stationed in Henan anyway, so how could they be afraid that these Liaodong soldiers would defect to Wu? Having the old generals lead their troops in a foreign land would make these soldiers feel at ease. If it really doesn't work, just let Bei Yan retire slowly. There are ten thousand ways to deal with him.
The army stationed outside Quanzhou City, and as Xin Pi and the grain transport fleet gradually moved south, Quanzhou City gradually lost its previous bustle.
Man Chong, who was in charge of military affairs, naturally lived in the central army tent. After dinner, Jiang Wei, who was in charge of the guard duty tonight, walked in from outside the tent and reported softly:
"General, the Xianbei Chanyu wants to see you." (End of this chapter)
