Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 312: Inseparable
"Uncle, Auntie misses you very much in Xiangyang, so father came here to let me take your place, please don't worry!"
"Oh, there's nothing to worry about. You should be careful in Xiling!"
"Uncle, don't worry! With the navy trained by uncle, I think as long as I continue according to your arrangement, the Jiangdong Army will not be able to break in... and uncle's navy will not suffer too much damage."
"You are wrong, sir. This is the navy of Jingzhou Prefecture. It is the navy of our lord."
In September of the fifth year of Jian'an, the navy of Jingzhou changed its commander in Xiling, Jiangxia...
Cai Mao kept a sullen face regarding the result, but Liu Qi did not dare to laugh in front of Cai Mao. Instead, he tried to comfort him. However, Cai Mao did not want to pay attention to him and left with his personal guards after a hasty handover.
Although Cai Mao's reaction was slow and his IQ was completely crushed by Zhou Yu, he had already reacted when there were some rumors in Xiangyang two months ago.
But Cai Mao had no choice - it would be easy to crack this plot of discord. As long as he came out and fought a few battles with the Jiangdong navy, most of the misunderstandings would naturally be eliminated. However, Cai Mao knew that he would not gain any advantage in a head-on battle!
Would he pay the price of heavy casualties of the navy that he had cultivated with his own efforts, and the complete failure of his strategic goal of "delaying the Yangzhou offensive", in exchange for breaking the alienation plot and regaining trust?
Cai Mao felt that the account could not be settled in this way, and it would be better to "play dead" and delay the matter. At least in Xiangyang, there were Kuai Yue and others who would speak for him.
Who knew that Liu Biao's transfer order would come faster than he expected. Cai Mao also wanted to go back and point at Kuai Yue's nose and ask him what the hell they were doing!
At the same time, after leaving the water fort, Cai Mao also looked far to the south on the shore...
Zhou Yu's move of "not leaving" indeed forced Cai Mao into a dilemma, where he could only choose between "wrong" and "even more wrong".
Although it was a "separation", Zhou Yu did not bribe anyone in Jingzhou Prefecture, nor did he intentionally give Cai Mao any benefits. He simply wanted to stop the war.
As for the Yangzhou goods in Xiangyang, they all flowed there naturally because the war in Jiangxia stopped, and there was no need for Zhou Yu to promote it at all!
Zhou Yu did not take any initiative to make any move to alienate Liu Biao and Cai Mao. He was just taking advantage of the situation in Nanjun and guiding them along. It was entirely Liu Biao himself who was thinking in the opposite direction.
Similarly, Huang Chengyan had not discussed anything with Zhou Yu before, and they didn't even know each other's plans. It was just that Huang Chengyan "read" Zhou Yu's intention from the situations in Xiling and Xiangyang, so he also went with the flow and instigated his sister-in-law to make a final move!
Even if Liu Biao and Kuai Yue confronted each other secretly, they would not be able to find any problem with Madam Cai...
After all, Mrs. Cai only described Liu Biao's reaction in a more exaggerated way when she was crying - given the "character" that Mrs. Cai was playing at the time, it was normal for her to do so!
Besides, how could Liu Biao and the Nanjun gentry sit down and confront each other now?
If there is such a tacit understanding, Zhou Yu's insistence on staying together will not work...
Soon Zhou Yu also received the news that the opposing navy had changed its commander!
"Hahaha, Gongjin, you still have so many ideas! Now Liu Biao has replaced his son... I want to see whether his father, who is a guard dog at home, can give birth to a son with some blood. Gongjin, let's take the initiative to attack!" Sun Ce urged. He had been idle for the past few months.
"No, I don't know whether he has blood or not, but now he must be seeking stability. He has just obtained some military power and will not take risks easily." Zhou Yu said casually.
Compared with Cai Mao, Liu Qi was obviously an opponent that he had no interest in.
"Ah? What should I do? Wouldn't it be just like replacing a turtle squatting here?" Sun Ce scratched his head in disappointment, as if he was thinking of a solution.
Zhou Yu immediately interrupted his suspicious behavior and corrected him: "Don't worry, he is different from Cai Mao. Although Liu Qi is Liu Biao's biological son, he will not take this risk!"
Zhou Yu's strength was not in party struggles and political infighting, but he was not completely ignorant of it either. He was just not very good at it. At least after having a general understanding of the situation in Nanjun, he was able to make some judgments...
Cai Mao dared to remain unmoved when being suspected, but Liu Qi definitely wouldn't dare to do that!
"What do you mean? If Liu Qi doesn't take the risk, how can we have a chance?" Sun Ce still didn't understand.
"What I mean is that for Liu Qi... continuing to remain in a stalemate with us is the most 'risky' thing to do. Even if he loses a few battles, it is better than doing nothing." Zhou Yu explained.
This is just like during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, when Lu Zhi chased the Yellow Turbans into a panic and had no choice but to besiege Guangzong. However, simply because Lu Zhi surrounded the city without attacking and wanted to further deplete the Yellow Turbans' strength and morale in Guangzong City, he was dismissed from his post for slacking in battle and was replaced by Dong Zhuo. As a result, Dong Zhuo had to attack anyway, which led to the direct defeat of the Han army. Dong Zhuo was also dismissed from his post and replaced by Huangfu Song, who also failed to take the city after a long siege.
In the case of Lu Zhi, he was framed by the eunuchs because he offended the Ten Attendants, but it was also his experience that put pressure on Dong Zhuo and Huangfu Song, forcing them to choose to attack under unfavorable circumstances.
Similarly, if Zhou Yu takes the initiative to attack now, Liu Qi will imitate Cai Mao's old style. Even if it is only 60% or 70% similar, it will still be a headache. He cannot lose, but it will also be difficult to win.
On the contrary, if the Jiangdong navy continued to remain inactive, Liu Qi would have to take the initiative to attack.
Cai Mao had a group of "teammates" in Xiangyang who could speak for him, but Liu Qi had a group of enemies in Xiangyang.
When he was in Xiangyang, a group of people slandered him to Liu Biao every day. Not to mention that now he can't see Liu Biao, it is even easier for him to be discredited.
In fact, it was somewhat beyond Zhou Yu's expectation that Cai Mao would be taken back so quickly. At the same time, it also made Zhou Yu more convinced that there was a "mysterious force" working against him!
Sun Ce's eyes lit up when he heard this and said, "So I can do it right away..."
"No, if Liu Qi sends troops, we can only suffer a small defeat. We cannot win, nor can we lose too fake a victory. We must try to withdraw from the Zhu County area within two months and retreat to Echeng... Now we should say that we should retreat to 'Wuchang'." Zhou Yu said mercilessly.
"Eh? A small defeat?" Sun Ce's eyebrows twisted in discomfort.
"Even if Liu Qi takes the initiative to attack now, the scale is very limited. We can't achieve any great results by giving him a head-on attack. Besides, this is also for... Forget it, you don't need to know anything else. Let's just suffer a small defeat first. This is also for a big victory in the future."
As Zhou Yu spoke, he realized that Sun Ce had become careless and even said willfully, "Then you can make the arrangements. Call me when you want a big victory in the future."
Zhou Yu: ...
In the following months, Liu Qi reached the peak of his life...
