Chapter 389 What people want
After hearing Zhou Yu's words, the civil and military officials who had been silent became angry again, like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
"Commander-in-chief, this is too risky!"
"We're sending all the troops from Jiangdong to Hebei. If anything goes wrong..."
"The war in the north does not benefit us much. If we send troops like this, wouldn't that be making things easier for others?"
……
Looking at the people talking at the same time, especially those young men from Jiangdong's aristocratic families who were dancing the most happily, a sharp light flashed in the eyes of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.
It seems that he is busy with foreign conquests and government affairs today, and has been a little lax in his supervision of the Jiangdong families.
Some people have already forgotten how they managed to break in.
"Do you think Yu will lose?"
Behind these plain words is absolute confidence.
Everyone present looked at Zhou Yu's calm expression and did not think his words were arrogant at all.
They all knew that Zhou Yu was a natural born commander. He had been victorious in every battle since he took command of the troops and could be described as a military genius.
Even when facing the Tianze Army, which was known as the strongest army in the world, they were still able to use the weak to defeat the strong and leave the opponent helpless. They were absolutely convinced of this ability.
"Commander-in-chief, we have absolute faith in your ability, but I'm afraid that the logistics of such a long expedition will be difficult to maintain. Moreover, even if we win the battle in Hebei, we won't gain any benefit at all. We will just lose troops in vain."
A civil official from Jiangdong stood up and said.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu directly refuted without any surprise.
"I have already negotiated with Yuan Benchu. Yuan Benchu has built a large number of granaries in Langya and the southern part of Beihai, not far from the sea, and stored enough food and supplies for a hundred thousand troops for a year."
"Also, the surrounding area has been cleared by Yuan Benchu. It can all be handed over to us for control. There is no need to worry about logistics issues."
"As for benefits..." Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce.
Sun Ce nodded and said, "Yuan Benchu promised personally that if we can capture Jizhou in this battle, no matter what the result is, the land south of the Huai River will belong to Jiangdong."
After hearing what the two said, everyone sighed in their hearts.
Got it!
You two have already discussed this.
Wouldn't it be enough to just say that you came to inform us? Why go through all this trouble?
But some smart people noticed something wrong.
Given Sun Ce's character and abilities, there was no need for him to inform anyone about such matters; he could just act on his own.
The purpose of doing this...
They looked calmly at the few people who had been dancing most happily before, and they all mourned for them in their hearts.
go!
Although Sun Ce has been much quieter in the past two years, they will never forget how he eliminated the cancer under his command.
If it had happened in the past, half of the civil and military officials present would have been wiped out after this meeting.
People really shouldn't stand out too much.
Zhou Yu, who directed the play, admired his masterpiece with a smile.
After understanding the characteristics of the powerful families in Jiangdong, Zhou Yu knew that gentle means would be useless against these people.
However, an overly drastic reaction would probably provoke resistance from these people, causing civil unrest and affecting the combat effectiveness of those under his rule.
Therefore, Zhou Yu's plan was to boil the frog in warm water.
Little by little, they screened out the disobedient troublemakers and transformed the stubborn and stubborn Jiangdong family into fence-sitters who fluttered in the wind.
Although there are many disadvantages to doing so, it is the best outcome for the current situation. Tianze's rapid development has left them with no chance to start over, so they can only take one step at a time.
After learning that Sun Ce had mobilized his troops, Yuan Shao breathed a sigh of relief and was overjoyed.
Sure enough, he made the right bet.
The risk of this matter was so great that even he felt a little scared.
This was like handing the fat piece of Xuzhou to Sun Ce's mouth. Testing Sun Ce's willpower in this situation was extremely frightening.
If this strategy had not been led by Xun Chen and he had not confidently guaranteed that it would be foolproof, Yuan Shao would not have dared to do it.
Fortunately, Sun Bofu is Sun Bofu and did not disappoint Yuan Shao's expectations.
On the other hand, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were also very happy after learning about the situation in Jiangdong.
The two armies of princes were not on guard, and Cao Cao and Liu Bei were only half on guard, so they just followed suit and acted arrogantly.
For a time, the four princes in the Central Plains seemed to have really become a whole. They no longer had any guard against each other and concentrated all the troops they could mobilize along the northern line.
Although Liu Fan in Yizhou did not have such courage, he also felt his blood boiling. He decided to send troops to support and deployed an army of 100,000 to the north of Hanzhong, ready to cause trouble for Tian Ze.
"Yuan Benchu, ah Yuan Benchu, you really know how to find difficult problems!"
Cheng Yu, who was stationed in Jizhou, couldn't help but feel a headache after learning about the movements in the Central Plains.
The sincere unity and desperate efforts of the four princes made the military force they were able to mobilize far beyond Cheng Yu's imagination.
In the vicinity of Sili and the southern part of the Yellow River, the princes of the Central Plains can be said to have gathered more than one million soldiers and horses.
The Tianze faction had a total of about 600,000 to 700,000 soldiers and horses.
"Your Majesty is right. We can never be too careful in this battle. We still need to prepare in advance."
Chen Gong, who originally thought that Tian Ze was a little too cautious, couldn't help but sigh after learning the news from the front line.
The actions of the princes in the Central Plains are totally unreasonable.
They mobilized more than 80% of their troops to carry out the Northern Expedition. At this time, if even one person had some selfish ambitions, it would be no problem to at least double their strength.
According to common sense, which prince would dare to really do this?
In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, countries that did this were destroyed early on.
But I didn’t expect that in this chaotic world, five “fools” would actually appear!
It’s not scary if one person is stupid, or even if most people are stupid. The scariest thing is that everyone is stupid.
The power that a group of "stupid" people can unleash is absolutely beyond imagination.
"It's okay. Your Majesty has already prepared for the worst." Tian Feng remained calm at this time.
He, Cheng Yu and Jia Xu are the ones who know Tian Ze's arrangements and ideas best.
He knew how cautious Tian Ze was.
The current situation did not exceed Tian Ze's expectations, and was even much better than the worst outcome Tian Ze had imagined.
Tian Ze had previously prepared for a situation in which Zang Ba would be destroyed and all the princes and powerful families in the world would display all their hidden military forces and make a concerted effort to launch a northern expedition.
In comparison, the current situation is nothing.
"As long as we can hold on in this battle, it will be fine."
"With Xuan Gao holding back at Mount Tai, and the navy along the Yellow River, it is simply impossible for the princes of the Central Plains to cross the Yellow River and attack Jizhou."
"Besides, even if they crossed the Yellow River, that would just be the beginning," Tian Feng said quietly.
Chen Gong and Tian Feng looked towards the south, as if they saw the militiamen training and getting ready in the counties and villages.
"We can't possibly lose this battle. Because people's hearts are on our side."
(End of this chapter)
