Chapter 465: Divide Jiangbei equally?

The most important node in this battle for Jiangbei was when Li Yun first took Liuhe and then turned around to take Chuzhou, attracting the main force of the Pinglu Army to besiege Chuzhou. While defending Chuzhou, he also used gunpowder to achieve a small victory over the Pinglu Army.

Since then, to be precise, after the main force of the Pinglu Army shifted from besieging Yangzhou to besieging Chuzhou, the initiative fell from the hands of General Zhou to the hands of Li Yun.

This can be seen from the fact that he easily captured Chuzhou.

Now, although the main force of the Pinglu Army was not damaged, it has basically lost the initiative in Jiangbei. The three battlefields, whether it is Chuzhou, Chuzhou or Yangzhou, have all been occupied by Li Yun, and it is not appropriate for him to attack any of them.

When Zhou Liang’s seven or eight thousand men cross the river and head north, Li Yun can even gather up his chariots and horses and fight these Pinglu troops with real swords and guns.

But there is no need for that. Li Yun has already taken several key points by trickery. If the Pinglu Army wants to attack the city by force, Li Yun will naturally use the city to consume a large number of Pinglu Army’s manpower.

And if the Pinglu Army stopped fighting…

Li Yun would no longer seek a decisive battle.

After all, the Pinglu Army is not made of clay. If they actively seek a fight, even if they can win, it will probably be a miserable victory. By then, Li Yun’s own troops will be reduced by at least half, or even more.

You know, he has already transferred 70% or even 80% of his wealth to Jiangbei. Now, there are so many eyes staring at Li Yun, openly or secretly. Once he and the Pinglu Army are both defeated, those people will not be merciful.

Who knows, someone will come and want to eat the ready-made food.

Just as Su Sheng said, the current situation in Jiangbei is already in Li Yun’s control. He can easily manipulate Jiangbei and decide its future direction.

“Brother Su, take advantage of this period of time when Mr. Zhou’s attention is not in Chuzhou. Send some people out in the next few days. No matter what method you use, prepare some food for Chuzhou.”

Li Yun looked at Su Sheng and said with a smile: “Prevent that General Zhou from getting angry and coming back to fight to the death with us in Chuzhou.”

Su Sheng nodded slowly and said, “Okay, I’ll arrange it in a moment.”

He stood up, looked at Li Yun, and advised: “Erlang, you should also go and have a rest. I’m afraid you haven’t slept much these past few days, right?”

During these few days, the Pinglu Army launched a fierce attack on Chuzhou. The battle was quite intense. Moreover, the fierce attack lasted for several consecutive days. Chuzhou might be in danger of being broken at any time. Once the city was broken, Li Yun and Su Sheng’s troops would have to go out of the city and fight a field battle with the Pinglu Army, or even fight a breakout battle.

At this time, it was naturally impossible for the commander Li Yun to get a good night’s sleep. In the past few days, he was on the city wall almost every day and rarely closed his eyes.

“After hearing what my brother said, I do feel a little sleepy.”

Li stretched his body, yawned and said with a smile: “Then I will go to sleep first. When I wake up, there may be more good news.”

Su Sheng also stood up, and the two of them bowed and said goodbye. Su Sheng went to arrange people to transport supplies into the city, while Li Yun really found a room, took off his coat, and fell asleep.

In the past few days, he has been under tremendous pressure both physically and mentally. Now that the situation in Jiangbei has basically settled, he can finally have a good rest.

…………

Two days later, in Yongyang County, Chuzhou.

General Zhou, dressed in purple, stood in a yard with his hands behind his back, looking at the trees in the garden with yellow leaves falling, and did not speak for a long time.

Behind him stood Deputy General Gongsun Hao, Deputy General Luo Zhen, and his son Zhou Chang.

Zhou Chang first talked to his father about the situation in Yangzhou and Chuzhou, then hesitated for a moment and said, “Dad, part of our troops stationed along the river have been cleared out by the soldiers from Yangzhou. In the past two days, we have discovered that some soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River are crossing the river to the north.”

“They come and go, and I can’t even count how many there are.”

General Zhou turned around and glanced at his son silently.

“They should be soldiers who landed in Yangzhou from Dantu, Runzhou.”

General Zhou exhaled a breath of foul air and said slowly: “Have these soldiers entered Yangzhou?”

Zhou Chang shook his head and said, “He went straight to Chuzhou.”

General Zhou took a deep breath to calm himself down. He looked back at the three people behind him. After a long moment, he sighed, “What a shame.”

This battle was indeed a disgraceful one.

Twenty or thirty years ago, when General Zhou, the first governor of the Zhou family, was in office, the Pinglu Army fought many brilliant battles and was one of the most famous armies in the world.

And now, twenty or thirty years later, the Pinglu Army, which had been so powerful in Jiangbei, has suffered repeated losses at the hands of a young rookie.

Not only did they lose soldiers and generals, but they also lost cities and territory!

If this matter gets out, the four names of Jiangdong Li Yun will definitely become more famous.

At the same time, General Zhou would inevitably become a stepping stone for Li Yun to become famous and be laughed at by the world.

After a long sigh, he turned around and looked at his two subordinates and his son, and said expressionlessly: “Yangzhou cannot be attacked, Chuzhou cannot be saved, and Chuzhou alone is also hard to resist.”

“Let’s talk about it. What should we do next?” The three looked at each other, and none of them wanted to be the first to speak. After a long while, Gongsun Hao, who had more experience, finally mustered up the courage and said, “General, temporary success or failure on the battlefield is nothing. Although we have suffered a small loss, our main force is still there. You can fight however you want.”

“You’re just talking bullshit.”

General Zhou was a little annoyed and cursed: “If my main force was gone, I would be on my way back to Qingzhou by now. Do I still need to ask you how to fight?”

After being scolded, Gongsun Hao lowered his head and dared not speak.

However, it also happened that he could stop expressing his opinions, so it was worth it to be scolded a few times.

Luo Zhen thought for a moment and said, “General, Chuzhou and Yangzhou are both very difficult to capture. If you really can’t swallow this, we can focus on Chuzhou and have a good fight with that Li guy.”

“If we can capture Chuzhou City and defeat Li Yun, we can vent the anger in the general’s heart.”

General Zhou had a blank expression on his face: “If we continue to fight in Chuzhou, how many more people will die? And how long will it take to conquer it?”

“Will the soldiers coming from Jiangnan come to support and save Chuzhou?”

Luo Zhen sighed and said, “If we don’t attack Chuzhou, I really don’t know where to start in Jiangbei.”

General Zhou shook his head silently and said, “Both of you, please leave. Zhou Chang, go and call Zhou Gui over.”

The three men responded, and the two deputy generals retreated. Zhou Chang quickly called Zhou Gui over. After Zhou Gui saw Zhou Xu, he kowtowed and said, “General.”

“Get up and talk.”

Zhou Gui thanked him, got up from the ground, and stood in front of the father and son with his hands hanging down.

Zhou Xu looked at him and asked, “Can you still go to Li Yun’s place?”

Zhou Gui thought for a moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly, “General, last time I made a one-year agreement with Li Yun on your behalf. During this year, Li Yun was very obedient and did not make any moves…but you, General, are so quiet that you want to make a move.”

“Right now, I really don’t know how to meet him. Even if I meet him, I will just be scolded for nothing. It’s useless.”

General Zhou looked at him and said silently, “There’s no need to talk about this anymore. I called you here, but I’m not really sending you to see Li Yun.”

Zhou Gui looked up at the general, a little confused.

The general continued, “Now the situation is serious. Even if you tell him a lot of lies, he probably won’t believe it.”

“Let Chang’er go to Chuzhou.”

Zhou Chang was stunned for a long time before he pointed at his nose and asked, “Dad, me?”

General Zhou didn’t even bother looking at him. His eyes were still on Zhou Gui, and he continued, “In the next two days, teach him how to talk to Li Yun.”

Zhou Chang looked at his father and smiled bitterly, “Dad, can that Li Yun really force our family to this point?”

“It’s not enough for him alone, but we have a neighbor to the north.”

General Zhou said expressionlessly, “That fellow surnamed Xiao is probably in charge of the imperial seal now. He has granted his family many more garrison states. His territory has already been pushed to Dizhou, which is about to border our Qingzhou!”

“If we confront Li Yun head-on in Jiangbei right now and suffer heavy casualties, when the Fanyang Army moves south, we probably won’t even have a chance to fight back.”

Zhou Chang looked at his father, still feeling a little guilty: “Dad, I heard that Li Yun is a barbarian, he won’t just use violence, right?”

“If he is really so brainless, he might not even be able to get out of Xuanzhou by now, let alone come to Jiangbei.”

General Zhou groaned.

“If you see him, tell him that I am willing to share Huainan Road with him.”

Zhou Chang just said “Oh” and pulled Zhou Gui downstairs with a worried look on his face. He asked him some questions about Li Yun and how to talk to him when they met him.

Master Zhou practiced for two days. On the third day, he brought a group of followers all the way to the city of Chuzhou. He was soon invited into the city and met Li Yun.

Li Yun was eating at this moment. After hearing Zhou Chang’s voice, he put down his chopsticks, looked at Mr. Zhou who was brought in, and smiled.

“Envoy Li, I’m here to negotiate terms.”

“As long as the envoy agrees to my father’s conditions, he is willing to work with you…”

Zhou Chang looked at Li Yun and slowly stated his old father’s bottom line.

“Equally divide Jiangbei.”

(End of this chapter)