Chapter 167: Jiangdong Submits
News of Sun Ben capturing Danyang Commandery quickly spread to Jiangdong, causing an uproar among the court and the people of Jiangdong. No one had expected Sun Ben to suddenly strike during the autumn-winter season of October, nor had they expected Great General Chen Feng to surrender to Sun Ben, with Commander Ling Cao meeting a tragic death.
Sun Quan was burning with anxiety. He immediately ordered the 80,000 troops scattered in various places to quickly assemble at Dantu County, preparing to concentrate forces for a decisive battle with Sun Ben.
Inside the official residence, Sun Quan paced back and forth in the hall like ants on a hot pot. He had never dreamed that Danyang Commandery would be lost so suddenly, which filled him with extreme anxiety and boundless anger.
Zhang Zhao sighed beside him and said, “Marquis of Wu, we must face reality. Sun Ben’s sneak attack on Danyang Commandery must have been long premeditated and prepared for a long time. From Chen Feng’s surrender, it’s clear he had already turned Chen Feng long ago.”
Sun Quan said bitterly, “Isn’t Cao Cao supposed to maintain stability in all directions? Since Sun Ben is his dog, why doesn’t he care at this critical moment?”
Zhang Zhao continued to explain, “I heard Cao Cao went north to attack Youzhou, so Sun Ben seized this opportunity to create a fait accompli, forcing Cao Cao to acquiesce in the end.”
At this moment, Lv Fan said coldly, “What’s the use of talking about this now? The problem has arisen, so we need to find a way to solve it. Since Sun Ben could sneak attack and seize Danyang Commandery, we can equally seize Danyang Commandery back.”
Zhang Zhao sighed, “Danyang Commandery is his old nest; it won’t be easy to seize!”
Sun Quan said angrily, “The battle hasn’t even started, why is the strategist so demoralized?”
Zhang Zhao shook his head, “I’m not speaking demoralizing words. I just want the Marquis of Wu to see the severity of the problem clearly, not to act so hastily and instead be defeated by Sun Ben. Once we are defeated, it will be difficult to take back Danyang Commandery. We must face reality, stay calm, see the enemy’s strengths, see our weaknesses, and know yourself and your enemy.”
Zhou Yu, who had been silent all along, slowly said, “Marquis of Wu, Chief Clerk Zhang is right. If we fail again, we won’t be able to take back Danyang Commandery. This is not the time to be emotional; we cannot use troops in anger. We must calm down first.”
Sun Quan took a deep breath, “Alright! I can’t do nothing. Tell me, what should we do now?”
Zhang Zhao hurriedly said, “The top priority now is to send people to Danyang Commandery to gather intelligence: How many troops does Sun Ben have? What are the attitudes of the citizens and noble families of Danyang Commandery toward him? Additionally, our navy must set out to cut off contact and supply between Danyang Commandery and Jiujiang Commandery.”
Sun Quan nodded, “General Zhou, the matter of the navy striking out is entrusted to you.”
“This subordinate obeys the order!”
As Zhou Yu was about to leave, Lv Fan suddenly said, “Marquis of Wu, we should seek aid from Gan Ning!”
“What?” Sun Quan was stunned.
Lv Fan sighed and said, “Although this subordinate deeply dislikes this man, as Chief Clerk of the Jiangdong Army, I must consider the big picture. If we want to take back Danyang Commandery, we can only reconcile with Gan Ning and ask him to send troops. Only then can we defeat Sun Ben.”
“No way!”
Sun Quan outright rejected Lv Fan’s suggestion, “I cannot let go of my dignity, and seeking aid from him would inevitably mean agreeing to attack Lujiang Commandery. I won’t agree. Chief Clerk, don’t mention it again.”
Lv Fan could only give a bitter smile, “Since the Marquis of Wu is so resolute, this subordinate won’t mention it.”
Sun Quan added to Zhou Yu, “Lead 30,000 troops to approach the north bank. If the enemy’s troop strength is not large, you can directly attack Jiujiang Commandery. I don’t believe he can ignore Jiujiang Commandery?”
Sun Quan planned to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, attacking Jiujiang Commandery to force Sun Ben to withdraw from Danyang Commandery.
Zhou Yu immediately led 30,000 troops and hundreds of warships to approach Jiujiang Commandery, but unexpectedly, the previously silent Cao Army suddenly moved out. Le Jin led 30,000 troops to kill into Jiujiang Commandery and garrison Hefei County.
Although Jia Xu was very annoyed at Sun Ben’s unauthorized dispatch of troops—sneak attacking Danyang Commandery without his consent—he would not allow the Jiangdong Army to land in Jiujiang Commandery either. Le Jin leading 30,000 troops into Jiujiang Commandery indicated that the Cao Army had begun to intervene.
Zhou Yu did not dare to rashly advance into Jiujiang Commandery either. The situation had undergone major changes, so he urgently sent someone to report to the Marquis of Wu and seek instructions on the next actions.
At the same time, Jia Xu’s subordinate arrived at Dantu County and delivered a personal letter from Jia Xu to Sun Quan.
Sun Quan handed the letter to Zhang Zhao, his face extremely grim.
“What’s wrong?”
“Strategist, read it yourself! Things are more troublesome than we imagined!”
Zhang Zhao opened the letter and read it carefully. Jia Xu’s tone in the letter was very tough and straightforward: If Jiangdong dared to enter the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Cao Army would coordinate with Sun Ben to directly attack Jiangdong.
“This…”
Zhang Zhao was speechless, continuing to read. Jia Xu demanded they could only resolve the matter of Danyang Commandery on the south bank of the Yangtze River; the Cao Army would not interfere, but if the Jiangdong Army dared to attack north of the river, it would be considered a declaration of war on the Cao Army.
“This Jia Xu is too overbearing and unreasonable!”
Sun Quan sighed and said, “What reason does power heed? We can only choose.”
Zhang Zhao was silent for a moment before saying, “This is not the time for letting emotions dictate actions. We have no way to contend with the Cao Army. We’d better withdraw Zhou Yu’s troops back to Jiangnan!”
Sun Quan paced to the window with hands behind his back, gazing at the sky and letting out a long sigh, “Too humiliating!”
Zhang Zhao advised, “Marquis of Wu, when it’s time to bow your head, you still have to. Seeing that Cao Cao is about to completely destroy the Yuan Clan and unify the North, his next step will inevitably be to lead a great army south. Marquis of Wu, you can’t hope he comes down from Jiangdong! As we analyzed before, the Cao Army will definitely come south from Xiangyang. At this critical moment, we must not draw disaster eastward!”
Sun Quan sighed again, nodded and said, “The strategist is right; we really cannot draw disaster eastward. I’ll immediately order Gongjin’s troops to withdraw south!”
Zhou Yu received the Marquis of Wu’s withdrawal order. Helplessly, he could only order the warships and troops to withdraw back to Jingkou.
Hundreds of warships slowly withdrew eastward under the surveillance of Cao Army scout ships.
In a pavilion on the north bank, Jia Xu stood with hands behind his back gazing at the Yangtze River. At this moment, a soldier came to report, “Reporting to the strategist, the Eastern Wu navy has withdrawn eastward!”
Jia Xu gave a cold laugh. He had seen through Sun Quan; they were afraid from the bottom of their hearts of the Cao Army attacking Jiangdong.
In Wanling County, there was an apothecary called Hou Cheng Fang, with average fame. Among the twenty-odd apothecaries in Wanling County, it could only rank in the middle.
But this was the Yuzhang Army’s intelligence point in Danyang Commandery, just established two months ago. The shopkeeper was named Han Ying, about forty years old, also from a physician background. He bought this apothecary that was for sale under the identity of a physician and began collecting intelligence on Danyang Commandery for the Yuzhang Army.
Normally, there was no important intelligence in Danyang Commandery, mainly collecting garrison numbers, commander situations, city wall defenses of various county towns, then prices, citizens’ living conditions, and so on. These were all open intelligence, easily accessible at a glance.
But today was different. Han Ying hurriedly returned to the apothecary from outside carrying his medicine box. He had just obtained important intelligence: Two days ago, Sun Ben sent troops to occupy Niuzhu and began a full invasion of Danyang Commandery.
Han Ying wrote two identical urgent intelligence reports, tied them to the legs of carrier pigeons. He opened the pigeon cage, and the two carrier pigeons immediately took to the air, flying toward the direction of Chaisang.
