Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 101 Exchange
The main force of Huainan heading north was defeated. Zhang Liao and Gao Shun saw that they could open up a route to the south through Guangling, and they secretly observed the waterways and naval situation in Guangling along the way.
At the same time, there was good news in Xunyang. Yuan Shu had indeed "gradually" released Sun Zhou's clansmen and Sun Jian's old subordinates, making it impossible for Sun Ce to leave Xunyang immediately.
Especially at the end, Sun Ce's mother, Madam Wu, and his younger brothers and sisters were all still detained, which was like hostages, making him unable to do anything.
However, just three months later, after the news of Ji Ling's defeat was reported back to Shouchun, Yuan Shu suddenly became eager to obtain the imperial seal!
He directly asked Sun Ce to exchange the imperial seal for his mother, Madam Wu, his two younger brothers, Sun Kuang and Sun Yi, and his six-year-old sister, leaving only his second brother Sun Quan as a hostage.
Originally Sun Ce did not want to agree, but Zhou Yu persuaded Sun Ce to agree - he seemed to have different ideas.
Although he did not say it explicitly, Zhou Yu had reviewed the faces of Yuan Shu's advisers in his mind one by one, but he could not find the mastermind behind this conspiracy.
Until Zhou Yu suddenly had an idea, and the face of a man who was in Shouchun but not under Yuan Shu's command appeared in his mind !
A young man with purple hair and blue eyes, still childish, although his appearance is not mature, his eyes are very mature...
"Yuan Shu is now blocked from attacking the south and the north. He is eager to ask for the imperial seal. He must be going all out. If we refuse him, we may become the target of his anger. A trapped beast can do anything." Zhou Yu said.
"But what about Zhongmou?" Sun Ce scratched his head.
Sun Quan was only fourteen years old at the time, fifteen years old in lunar age, and not yet old enough to take a courtesy name. However, because he was precocious and had already been selected as a filial and honest official, he had already been given a courtesy name.
"Yuan Shu is holding Zhongmou hostage just to keep him as a hostage, but considering the current situation, it would be a good idea for us to stay in Xunyang first," Zhou Yu said.
He had expected that Ji Ling's northern expedition to Xuzhou would most likely be fruitless, but he did not expect that he would suffer such a disastrous defeat!
And judging from the fact that he was eager to ask for the imperial seal, Yuan Shu's mentality was indeed about to collapse... In this case, Zhou Yu also had some other ideas.
"No! I promised Mr. Bai..."
"You promised Lord Bai half a year! It's only three months now. Moreover, if the situation changes in the future, we can go down the river and take Wancheng directly. Then we can take Wancheng with us to Lord Bai. Wouldn't that be better?" Zhou Yu persuaded.
Wancheng was Liu Xun's temporary seat in Lujiang before. Now that Shucheng was captured, Liu Xun moved the seat back to Shucheng - this guy's behavior made Zhou Yu very disdainful.
Although Shucheng is more prosperous, has a larger population, and is closer to the Central Plains, Wancheng is more important in terms of geographical location.
Wancheng is just on the north side of the Yangtze River, and you can enter the river from "Wankou" to the south.
Wankou is to Wancheng as Guazhou is to Guangling and Chaohu is to Hefei.
In history without the White Rabbit Effect, Sun Quan led an army of 100,000 to attack Guangling in the north and failed. He also led an army of 100,000 to attack Hefei three times, but also failed each time.
Although Guazhou and Chaohu were not mentioned, since Guangling and Hefei were touched, we can know that the Eastern Wu had conquered these two ports, and it was easy to conquer them.
If Guangling and Hefei could not be captured later, it would be impossible to defend a port located near the enemy's strong city, so they would retreat directly to Jiangdong every time.
Opposite Guazhou is Jingkou, opposite Chaohu is Ruxukou, and together with "Wankou" on the west, they are the three major strategic points between Yangzhou and Huainan from west to east.
As for Jingkou and further east...
At this time, the Oriental Pearl Tower was still under the water, the delta had not yet been washed out, the river was too wide and close to the estuary, and it was impossible to launch a naval battle here with current technology.
Of course, in strategic terms, Wancheng is inferior to Hefei and Guangling. Once Hefei is captured, Shouchun and the Central Plains are within sight; and once Guangling is captured, the Xia Pi defense line all the way to the Huai River will be under control.
Wancheng is located at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, near Tianzhu Mountain. The water route ends in the northern part of Wancheng, cutting off the north and the south. The only way to go north is through the Shiting and Jiashidao land routes, which are full of steep passes and long journeys.
Although they were powerless to attack by defending this place, they were able to protect themselves. Moreover, unlike Xunyang which was controlled by the Qichun Spring Festival, the arable land in Wancheng was sufficient and fertile.
In history without the White Rabbit Effect, Lu Meng captured Wan County six years after the Battle of Chibi, and Cao Wei failed to take it back until the demise of Eastern Wu.
Of course, because the water routes north of Wancheng were cut off, Dongwu was unable to move north from there.
If Liu Xun continued to use Wancheng as the seat of government and focused on defense, Zhou Yu would not be able to capture Wancheng. At most, he could just touch Wankou, which was meaningless. But now that the main force of Lujiang had moved back to Shucheng, Zhou Yu felt that he could give it a try and maybe he could capture Wancheng.
Sun Ce doesn't look very smart, but his strategic layout is very accurate. After looking at the map, he also understood the importance of Wancheng, but he still doesn't trust Sun Quan.
"Zhongmou has always been very smart. Maybe we don't need to worry about him." Zhou Yu comforted.
"He's still a child!" Sun Ce obviously didn't understand Zhou Yu's meaning.
"But now we can only accept Yuan Shu's request, otherwise a madman can do anything... You can think more positively. At least Zhongmou is the candidate to stay in Shouchun, which is most beneficial to us." Zhou Yu said.
Sun Ce rolled his eyes, obviously not impressed by what Zhou Yu said.
However, he still followed Zhou Yu's instructions and agreed to exchange "hostages".
Unexpectedly, Yuan Shu proposed that he would first send the people to Qichun City, and then ask Sun Ce to use Cheng Ji and consume the best manpower to directly send the jade seal back to Shouchun. Then Yuan Shu would notify Qichun to release the people!
Qichun is close to Xunyang and is nominally a county of Jiangxia County. However, because it is close to Lujiang, it is now actually controlled by Yuan Shu.
Unlike Xunyang, Qichun’s defender Lu Mian, like Ji Ling and Qiao Rui, was a die-hard supporter of Yuan Shu.
Moreover, although Xunyang is in Lujiang County of Yangzhou and Qichun is in Jiangxia County of Jingzhou, the two are very close to each other, especially Xunyang Ferry, which is almost directly within the influence of Qichun. Sun Ce is only stationed in Xunyang Ferry, and other cities in the county are not under his jurisdiction.
It was precisely because of the presence of Qichun that Yuan Shu was not worried about what Sun Ce might do in Xunyang.
At first, Sun Ce firmly did not trust Yuan Shu, but later under the guidance of Zhou Yu, Sun Ce also made a corresponding request - Sun Quan must also be in Qichun, and only after confirming everyone's safety will Sun Ce hand over the jade seal.
Yuan Shu probably thought that a few hostages would not be lost in Qichun City, so he sent Chen Lan and Lei Bu, who he trusted, to send Sun Quan and others to Qichun City. As for the matter of escorting the imperial seal, Yuan Shu did not trust anyone...
